


The Internship

by ReturningWriter



Series: The Internship [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Drama, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Kara Danvers, Awkward Sexual Situations, Bisexual Kara Danvers, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Daddy Danvers, Developing Friendships, Endgame Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Farmgirl Kara, Flirting, Friendship, Friendzone, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Kara Danvers / Eve Teschmacher (pre-supercorp), Kara Danvers isn't Supergirl, Making Out, Masculine Kara, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, SuperCorp, Young Kara Danvers, Young Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Young Lena Luthor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:09:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 145,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24370342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReturningWriter/pseuds/ReturningWriter
Summary: A young Kara Danvers arrives for a summer internship in Metropolis while staying with her cousin Clark Kent and his fiancée Lois Lane. In this world Kara has grown up splitting her time between winters with the Danvers family in Midvale and summers spent working on the Kent farm outside of Smallville. As a result, she’s grown up tall and strong and somewhat different from the other girls around her.Now she faces an uncertain future as she tries to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. All she knows is that she prefers dress shirts over dresses and sneakers over heels and along the way she meets a certain Lena Luthor who becomes her friend and biggest supporter.Alternate Universe Supercorp story set when our two favorite dorks are on the cusp of adulthood and meet way earlier in their lives. Will Kara be a good influence on Lena and help her prevent Lex’s fall to the dark side and will Lena help Kara on her way to becoming a hero in her own right while also embracing who the blonde truly wants to be?
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Clark Kent & Lex Luthor, Kara Danvers & Lois Lane, Kara Danvers & Maggie Sawyer, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias & Lena Luthor
Series: The Internship [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051649
Comments: 664
Kudos: 711





	1. Farmgirl in the Big City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara newly arrived in Metropolis has a very long day as she struggles with being herself.

Kara Danvers studied herself in the mirror of the Kent-Lane household’s guest bedroom and frowned at what she saw. She’d come to Metropolis for the summer where she’d felt distinctly out of place right away and now, she was about to start a new job. 

This would be her first job not counting working on the Kent Farm in the summers, well not really a job, but an internship. To be specific, it was a summer internship at LexCorp thanks to her cousin Clark’s connections to the Luthor family going back years. But regardless of the slight nepotism at play, she had a burning passion for science and technology, and this could be her ticket into that field. 

Having already spent the warm and sunny spring at the Kent farm like she did every year, she sported a ruddy farmer's tan which she hated because it made the freckles on her shoulders and arms stand out. Running her rough fingers through her unruly blonde mop of hair she sighed. 

At nineteen, almost twenty, she knew she wasn’t like the other girls in Midvale or Smallville, but what she was exactly she didn’t know yet. The whole power to crush a lump of coal into a diamond using only her fist thing wasn’t helping her figure that out either.

Wearing only a tight white tank top and boxers she looked over her pile of clothes on the bed. A dress wouldn’t do, in fact, she hated dresses, but that left her only a white dress shirt and her best pair of jeans with sneakers. Alex would tell her to wear the blue dress to keep up appearances, Martha, and Eliza too because it looked pretty, but Metropolis wasn’t Midvale or Kansas, no this city was her chance to be herself at long last.

Pulling the shirt on without a bra on felt good, right almost in some strange way, and buttoning it up, she smiled at the reflection in the mirror. It showed off her broad shoulders and narrow waist and somehow made her feel at peace with herself.

Pulling her unruly blonde hair into a tight ponytail she put her glasses on and studied her reflection again. She knew that she was tall and strongly built, just like her aunt Astra had been back on Krypton, but whereas that wouldn’t have mattered back on the planet of her birth, on Earth, it labeled her as a weirdo and a freak. Shaking off those feelings she practiced her introduction. 

“Kara Danvers, at your service,” she said, forgoing her usual cheerful tone of voice for one that was firm and strong and emanated from deep within her chest.

Slipping into the jeans she tucked in the shirt and pulled on a thick leather belt to complete the look. Sitting down she laced up her best pair of sneakers and debated leaving the glasses off for today, but in the end, those old fears won out and so the glasses stayed. 

A knock at her bedroom door made her stand up straight with one shoe unlaced when her cousin’s longtime fiancée poked her head in. Lois Lane was everything she was not, petite, feminine, and totally in charge no matter what the situation. Her dark-haired and violet-eyed honorary aunt smiled at her and was holding a brown paper lunch bag in one hand and car keys in the other.

“Hey farmgirl, are you ready for your big day?” Lois asked and she nodded while relaxing her stance somewhat at seeing the reporter dressed in a smart black pantsuit with heels, she could never pull off nor did she want to.

“Yep, ready and able!” she said cheerfully as her cousin’s wife-to-be gave her the once over with the trained eyes of a seasoned investigative reporter.

“I love the shirt, very bold statement there although we do need to get you a better pair of shoes,” Lois commented sweetly following the inspection and smiled putting the brown paper bag down on the dresser. 

“Well, you know us farmgirls, all we need is a pair of boots to ride in and good sneakers to run in,” she laughed and rubbed the toe of her sneaker against the back of her leg to polish it. 

Even though she’d spent winters with the Danvers family and summers at the Kent farm she strongly identified as a farmgirl, she loved the open space, the sunshine, and the hard work and it showed in her strong arms and ruddy face.

“Well sunshine, you’re in the big city now and I’ll take you shopping as soon as I can. Oh, and I made you lunch. I know how you El’s like to eat,” the reporter said, sounding a bit nervous, almost like she was about to give her some bad news, but she gave the woman a smile.

“Clark busy again?” she asked, and she wasn’t even upset about it, her cousin was Superman, after all, the Man of Steel and thus perpetually busy.

“Emergency on the Moon or something, but don’t worry I’ll gladly give you a lift,” the reporter offered and gave her an understanding smile. Being Superman’s cousin hadn’t been the easiest way to grow up but Kal had always tried to be there for her with summers spent together on the Kent farm and now letting her stay the summer in Metropolis. 

“I’d like that, and you really think this outfit is okay?” she asked and now she felt self-conscious about her attire. Maybe the blue dress was the right choice?

“Kara, you’re a strong and beautiful young person, no matter what you wear, but you could use one more thing. Stay put!” the reporter told her firmly before darting to the master bedroom and returning with a red tie.

“Here, if you’re going to wear a man’s shirt you should wear a tie,” Lois said and put the tie around her neck. Eliza nor Martha had realized it was a man’s shirt when she had bought it along with the blue dress, but of course, Lois Lane, intrepid investigative reporter, spotted it right away.

“I… thank you… but I don’t know how to tie it,” she stammered looking at the red silk tie around her neck and the reporter chuckled.

“Neither did Clark when I met him, he used to wear clip-on ties! Here let me show you, I know a great trick to do it,” the reporter said, and she nodded while bending down so she was at the same level as the shorter woman. 

“Once around the tree, the fox chased the rabbit;” Lois sang as she started making the knot and she found herself fighting back a laugh.

“Twice around the tree they ran,” the reporter went on as she tried to watch and memorize the movements.

“The rabbit scooted under a bush, away from the fox and the little rabbit got away!” Lois then giggled sensing her barely suppressed mirth and she let out a peal of laughter.

“And dived right into the safety of his cool and dark hole,” the reporter finished by tightening the knot of the tie and straightening it while smiling up at her. 

“There, now you look ready to take on the world,” the reporter declared as she looked at herself in the mirror. The tie really did make her look different and completed the look perfectly, now if only she had a blazer. 

“Thank you, but I’m still nervous, I just don’t want to mess this up you know,” she admitted and squared her shoulders after rising back up to her full height. 

“You won’t, Clark and I have so much faith in you and I know that Alex does too,” Lois said softly and fixed the front of her shirt and tie again in an almost motherly fashion.

“So, I guess I’m ready?” she asked while eyeing the brown paper bag on her dresser and she could smell salami on rye. 

“You’re more than ready, you’re going to knock them dead!” the reporter told her, and she felt herself almost believing that.

“I’m not so sure that I’m going to knock anyone dead,” she muttered with her self-doubts creeping into her voice yet again.

“Oh, you can do better than that Danvers, let me hear some of that Kansas-strength,” Lois laughed and slapped her on the arm.

“I’m going to knock them dead!” she declared but her voice was still shaking but she laughed as she felt a rush of relief.

“I can’t hear you soldier!” the reporter and the daughter of an army officer exclaimed in her best drill sergeant voice.

“I’m going to knock them dead!?” she shouted and punched the air with gusto now laughing and feeling much better about all of this.

“There is the girl I know, now come on you don’t want to be late for your first day,” Lois said and put an arm around her shoulders.

“Again, thank you, but you don’t have to be so nice to me,” she said shyly because she felt very small right then, but the reporter laughed.

“Kara… you are family and probably the closest to a daughter I’ll ever…” the reporter said and then stopped before finishing that thought while looking dejected and a little bit embarrassed. 

“No, it’s okay,” she assured the woman who would one day be Clark’s wife. One could never have too many moms was her way of looking at things. 

“It’s just that having you around is what I imagine it will be like if Clark and I have children one day,” Lois finished, and she gave the petite reporter a hug.

“Hey, it’s okay, you two will figure it out one day and I’ll even help,” she said softly, and the woman gave her a grateful smile.

“Sorry… I didn’t want to put my toe over some imaginary line,” the reporter apologized softly and sniffled with her violet eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“You didn’t, now how about that ride to LexCorp?” she asked to change the subject and reached out to snatch the brown paper bag from the top of the dresser as the petite woman nodded. Lois probably understood her better than the rest of her extended family thanks to her background and she was very grateful for having the reporter in her life.

* * *

Arriving at the towering and glistening chromic skyscraper that was the LexCorp building in the middle of Metropolis she gulped in the front seat of the car and fiddled with her glasses as Lois gave her a reassuring smile. Clutching her brown lunch bag close to her chest she gave herself a few internal you can do this Zor-El’s along with a hearty bitch up Danvers!

“Remember, knock them dead!” the reporter told her with her usual spunk, and she gave a nervous smile, feeling very silly in her shirt and tie now.

“I will text you at lunch?” she asked as a part of her wanted to slam the passenger door shut, hyperventilate, and shout for Lois to just drive. But her bravery won out in the end. 

“Text me if you need anything Farmgirl,” Lois said, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and she got out of the car as people in suits and skirts filed past her in the morning rush hour. Again, making her feel very much out of place here.

With Lois driving off she was left all by herself and walking slowly into the building she headed for the reception desk. Standing up straighter because she felt kind of small among all these sharp-dressed people, but she flashed the girl who was polishing her nails behind the reception desk a quick smile. 

“Hi, I’m Kara Danvers and I’m here for the internship introduction session,” she said formally and held out her phone with the email on the screen to show the blonde girl behind the desk that she was really supposed to be here.

“Take the elevator to the fifth floor and… oh hello there,” the receptionist, who was admittedly very pretty, said sounding very bored before she looked up at which the tone of her voice changed to something akin to flirty, or so she thought. She really was very bad at the whole flirting stuff or talking to pretty girls stuff or boys for that matter.

“Umm, hello,” she said and again felt very self-conscious. Why was the girl looking at her like that? She was nothing special and truth be told any attention usually made her nervous.

“Fifth floor, down the hall and it’s in the Blue meeting room. Now, do you need anything else hun?” the blonde receptionist asked, now being very helpful and looking at her like she was a snack. 

“Nope! That’s all! thank you... miss,” she blurted out nervously while being polite like both the Danvers and the Kents had taught her to be.

“Well please come back if there is anything you need,” the girl drawled and winked at her and she felt herself starting to blush as she beat a hasty retreat for the elevators. What the frick had just happened?

Finding the elusive Blue meeting room after a few false starts and one interrupted meeting of a group of very annoyed looking people, she found that she was the last to arrive. Quietly she took her place among the other interns who were all talking among themselves and flat out ignoring her as she said her sorries as she made her way to the back of the packed meeting room.

Fixing her glasses, then her ponytail and making sure the buttons of her white shirt were done up right before hiding her brown lunch bag behind her back, she looked around at the other interns waiting for the orientation to start. 

Most of her fellow interns were handsome guys in suits or preppy looking girls in designer outfits and she felt deeply out of place in her only good shirt, new jeans and her best pair of sneakers while wearing a red tie borrowed from her cousin. Also, truth be told, quite frankly they all looked boring. 

Before she could study them further, the doors to the meeting room swung open and looking down the line she was at the end of, she saw a pale-skinned girl with sparkling green eyes and raven-black hair blow into the room like a tornado of sass and personality.

“Oh, joy, a gaggle of suited idiots for me to shepherd this summer, oh well, listen up! For those of you who don’t know already, I’m Lena Luthor and for the next three months I am in charge of your lives, any questions?” the raven-haired girl wearing a jade blouse that showed plenty of ample cleavage, and tight black jeans declared.

Failing to rein in her wandering eyes she also noticed the scarily high black heels the girl wore and thought about how without them she’d tower over this very bossy girl. But also, something clicked in her brain at the sight of this girl who looked to be about her own age. 

With her brain bits a bit overwhelmed, it was hard to tell the girl’s exact age though and what it was that had clicked in her head she wasn’t sure of yet, but all she knew in that moment was that she couldn’t stop staring at that pale and regal face with its sharp jawline. The girl walked down the line of interns asking various questions of them as she moved ever closer until those sparkling green eyes met hers. 

“And you, what’s your name?” the bossy girl asked, no she demanded it from her, with a pale hand sporting several rings resting on a curvy hip, but all she could do was watch those ruby red lips move which was better than looking at the silver and emerald stone necklace resting between the girl’s breasts.

“Kara… uh ma’am, Kara Danvers, ma'am, at your service,” she squeaked, sounding nothing like she’d practiced and stuck out her hand which the raven-haired girl regarded with amusement before taking it.

“Polite, I like it, and maybe this summer isn’t a total loss after all,” the girl laughed in a rich voice that was like audible chocolate to her ears and all she could think about was how soft the girl’s hand was compared to her rough farm work calloused bear’s paw-like mitten of a hand. Lena Luthor was clearly everything she was not, and it fueled innate fears of being inadequate.

“I’m just here to try my very best ma’am,” she said earnestly and that made a few of the stuffed suits in the room chuckle, but Lena Luthor didn’t laugh.

“You’re earnest, I like that too,” the shorter girl said firmly and that stopped the chuckling in the room for which she was grateful.

“You should all be getting emails with your assignments right about now, but you Miss Danvers, you’re coming with me,” the raven-haired girl declared to the room and right on cue every phone in the room vibrated except hers.

“What are you waiting for people, move, move!” the girl then shouted when the suited interns didn’t move fast enough for her liking and that sent the stuffed suits scattering to their assigned tasks leaving her alone with the green-eyed girl.

“What… what is my assignment ma’am?” she asked and managed to keep her eyes focused on a point just above the girl’s head as she stood straight with her arms behind her back. It was just that she’d never seen anyone like this girl before and maybe she was going to tell her that there had been a mistake and that she didn't belong here?

“At ease Danvers, I’m curious that’s all and then I’ll send you off on your assignment,” the girl laughed sweetly while clearly sensing her discomfort and that made her relax somewhat.

“Sorry ma’am,” she said and flexed her fingers nervously around the brown paper bag while wondering what was going on with her brain today.

“Why are you here?” the girl who would be in charge of her for the next few months asked out of the blue while studying her face and she could see a sharp mind at work behind those green eyes.

“Well it’s kinda embarrassing…” she admitted and fought back a blush as she scratched the back of her neck. 

“Don’t be embarrassed, I want to hear it, so go on give me some more of that refreshing earnest speak-your-mind attitude that you got there,” the girl laughed again and she took a breath before giving her answer. 

“I want to study engineering or physics or both! I want to build things that make the world a better place and solve problems that haven’t even been thought of yet, but short term I really want this internship because it would help me get into a good school like MIT or Metropolis Tech,” she blurted out and that made the girl smile at her to which she smiled back nervously.

“You know what, I think you and I are going to get along just fine,” the girl said and motioned for her to follow.

“Thank you, ma’am, I mean Miss Luthor, or do you prefer ma’am?” she asked, still feeling a bit unsure of herself and followed the pale-skinned girl out of the meeting room.

“Miss Luthor will do and I’m afraid your first task isn’t that glamorous, but it is important.” the pale-skinned girl said while sounding a little bit apologetic as they headed for the elevator.

“I’m ready to start at the bottom, hard work is what my family has always taught me,” she said and that earned her another one of those mysterious smiles.

“Oh, you’re definitely like no other intern we have this year,” the girl commented ruefully, and the elevator took them down to the building’s sub-basement. 

“Thank you... I think,” she replied when the doors opened with a ding and they were greeted by a long dimly lit corridor.

“This isn’t the dungeon is it?” she asked, and Miss Luthor shook her head with a grin but on the inside, she was trying not to panic because this place was a tiny bit claustrophobic.

“No don’t be silly that’s two floors down. This is where we store our patents, contracts, internal communications, research notes, you name it, if it’s on paper it’s down here,” Miss Luthor explained and led her to a door marked only with the number forty-two.

“I got a suspicion where this is going,” she whispered when the door swung open revealing a massive room filled wall to wall with shelves full of filing boxes.

“I know this doesn’t seem important, but this is the heart of LexCorp, sure it’s not getting coffee or being bossed around by a VP or an executive, but trust me when I say this is important work,” the pale-skinned girl explained and there was an earnest tone to her voice that she believed and appreciated.

“Yes ma’am, sorry, Miss Luthor,” she apologized again and fixed her tie looking at the mountain of boxes that awaited her while trying not to crush the brown paper bag in her hand.

“Here, I’ll give you the rundown on what you need to do,” Miss Luthor said and stepped into the room which felt bigger on the inside somehow than the tiny door would indicate.

Watching the shorter girl pull a box from one of the shelves and place it on a desk next to a computer and a scanner that had seen better days. She did a quick count of the boxes. At human speeds, this would take a month, but she could do it in a week she reckoned if she did a bit of Kryptonian cheating.

“Your job is to scan these in, make sure they’re correctly entered into our databases and then file them back into the box with this stamp,” the pale-skinned girl explained showing her the steps with graceful pale hands and never had tedious filing work sounded as good for some reason.

“Understood,” she nodded while already sneakily planning to cheat more than a little bit on this task.

“You got a phone?” the pale-skinned girl then asked suddenly, and she nodded while pulling her beat-up cell phone from her pocket.

“Great, can I have it so I can give you my number?” the perplexing girl asked next and she unlocked it and handed it over without hesitation.

“Cute girl, is she your girlfriend?” the pale-skinned girl then quizzed her with a raised eyebrow seeing the background picture showing her and Alex from the last time her sister had been home from her post-grad studies and she blushed furiously.

“No, no, no, that’s my adoptive sister, Alex, I don’t have a girlfriend or a boyfriend or anyone really,” she blurted out and watched as pale fingers entered the girl’s digits into her phone.

“Well, this is my number, if you have questions or run into any problems, call me,” the girl said while politely not pressing on the subject of her lack of a dating life and handed her back the phone where a new number had been saved under the heading of LL.

“Thank you, if that’s all I won’t keep you longer, as I’m sure you’re very busy,” she nodded back politely and sat down behind the desk with a smile while placing her brown lunch bag neatly next to the keyboard.

“Like you wouldn’t believe, but call me if there is anything,” the pale-skinned girl laughed and headed for the door before turning around suddenly which made her jump slightly.

“And I like the tie, very bold, but maybe invest in some better shoes and a blazer and we do have a cafeteria you know,” the girl with those sparkling green eyes suggested with a smile and all she could do was nod before she was all by herself again with only the humming fluorescent light above her head for company. 

It wasn’t glamorous, but it was a start and she believed Lena Luthor when she said that this was important work, so booting up the computer she started speed reading each piece of paper that emerged from the box before scanning it into the system. The hours actually went by fairly fast once she got into the rhythm of her work. Read, scan, enter, stamp, and file. Rinse and repeat.

* * *

It was past five in the afternoon when she dragged herself back outside into the sunshine and saw Lois waving at her from the car. Her borrowed tie now hung loosely around her neck with the top buttons of her shirt undone and her shoulders hurt a little bit but she’d gotten through a staggering amount of files on her first day which gave her a small sense of pride. Still, she was glad to be under the open air once again and she slipped into the passenger seat while buckling her seatbelt.

“How did it go?” Lois asked and she noticed that there was still no sign of Clark anywhere, but she was used to that by now.

“Good… I think, but the girl in charge of the interns is… strange,” she said diplomatically as she’d not quite figured out Lena Luthor yet. Granted they’d only spoken for a few minutes, but the girl was like nobody else she’d ever encountered on Earth or on Krypton.

“Who is she?” the reporter asked as they drove through the congested streets back to the Kent-Lane household as she hunched over her phone checking her messages for the first time all day because the sub-basement got almost no reception.

“Lena Luthor,” she muttered and texted back to Alex’s message asking how her first day had gone. Her adoptive sister was spending the summer as part of some government program that all sounded very hush-hush.

“The kid-sister herself, didn’t know that she was taking an active hand in the company,” Lois commented dryly and that made her look up from her phone.

“What do you mean? She seemed to be totally capable,” she blurted out in defense of the pale-skinned girl she’d barely exchanged more than a few words with. But she had a habit of defending people that seemed good and honest. 

“According to Cat Grant and I can’t believe I’m quoting the Planet’s gossip columnist here; she’s a bit of a wild child that’s all,” the reporter filled her in and it did make sense, the no-nonsense attitude, the jewelry, the cleavage flaunting blouse and tight jeans. 

“I wouldn’t know about that…. but she was very nice to me at least and even liked the tie,” she said with a smile and held up the untied red tie like a trophy.

“That’s good, so what do they have you doing there?” the reporter asked as they waited at a red light.

“Filing mostly, I was reading through all these patents and did you know that they’re working on all these medical advances?” she asked and she’d been fascinated by some of the patents she’d scanned and filed today.

“Mostly Lex likes to focus on electronics and software, but it doesn’t surprise me that they’re working on other things,” Lois replied, and she suspected something more was behind that statement.

“LexCorp isn’t like doing shady stuff is it? I mean Clark has known Lex for a long time, right?” she asked as her curiosity got the better of her. From how she understood it, the relationship between Clark and Lex Luthor was a weird sort of a quasi-friendship even though the two men had very different backgrounds while Superman and Lex occasionally worked together. 

“Clark, he trusts people, but me not so much,” the reporter replied but before she could press the woman on the topic the ground shook slightly.

“What was that?” she asked and resisted the urge to use her X-ray or telescopic vision to check. Years of being conditioned not to expose herself needlessly kicked in hard too.

“Probably your cousin, come on,” Lois replied with a rueful sigh and pulled the car to the side of the road before retrieving a camera from the glove compartment.

“Where are we going?” she asked but followed the woman out of the car as they ran down the street as another tremor shook the ground.

“To hopefully get tomorrow's front page,” the reporter explained as they rounded the corner and right on cue, there was Clark, Kal-El, Superman, fighting a lumbering mechanical monstrosity with a grin on his face.

Feeling a pang of jealousy, she watched as her cousin traded blows with the nearly nine feet tall robot while decked out in a blue suit and a red cape with the crest of the House of El displayed proudly on his chest. From the looks of the robot, it was one of the Toymaker’s creations and she knew that because at home she had a scrapbook full of Kal’s exploits under her bed. The mechanical monstrosity sparked and creaked as it exchanged blows with the Man of Steel and she balled her hands into fists so her knuckles turned white because a part of her wanted to wade into the fray and help her cousin.

As she’d gotten older, she’d started questioning the need to keep her powers hidden, but both Kal and the Danvers insisted that she wasn’t old enough yet and that the world already had a Superman. Meaning that she could have a normal life, but nobody had asked her if that was what she wanted.

While she fought the urge to join the fray, in the end, it didn’t matter since the fight was rather one-sided and over quickly. Lois did get her scoop and Kal even winked at them during the middle of it while he was engaged in a test of strength with the towering mechanical rock’em and sock’em robot. What followed was a blast of heat-vision, a puff of freeze-breath and the partly destroyed robot was delivered to the authorities. 

“Hey, are you okay? You looked to be pretty far away back there,” Lois asked her while looking through the photos on the camera when they were back in the car and she hadn’t said a word.

“Yeah just tired that’s all,” she lied, she hated lying, but it was better than admitting her jealousy at being unable to fight evil like Kal did.

“Let’s get you home then, Clark should be back home soon as well and I’ll have him pick up Chinese,” the reporter nodded either believing her little white lie or letting it slide.

After dinner and a family movie night, which had been pleasant, she found herself back in the small guest bedroom and again looking at herself in the mirror. The white shirt hanging off the back of a chair along with the borrowed tie. Flexing her arms, she studied the outlines of her muscles and squeezed her fists together tightly. She knew she was strong, heck last summer she had taken down a stampeding bull using only her hands and although she couldn't quite fly, yet, she could jump long distances and understood the basics. But all that had to be kept hidden, for reasons that no longer held the same strength of convictions as they once had. 

Pulling her blonde hair above her head she pretended to cut it off with her fingers, imagining it short and spiky and that made her smile, but then she dropped it down again and shook her head. One day maybe, one day, but not today. Discarding her tank top, she crawled into bed in only her boxers she tried to sleep but her ears kept picking up random sounds from miles away. Tossing and turning she pulled the pillow over her head and finally was able to fall asleep. This had been a long day and tomorrow would probably be the same, but at least she would get to talk to Lena Luthor a bit more, she hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Did you miss me? Because I missed you guys! So in case I'm not foreshadowing it hard enough this is that little Butch/Masculine Kara story I've been mentioning on and off for about a year now. Probably ever since I finished Mirror Images and I did kinda touch upon this theme in Higher Causes. It's taken me ages to get this one chapter done with two more mostly finished and the rest of the story outlined, but I have no idea how the update schedule on this one will be, but here is hoping, right?
> 
> Finally, this story is taking me way way out of my comfort zone as a writer and as who I am really, but I hope you'll enjoy it as I also take my fifth crack at a slow burn romance here but we all know how those have turned out in the past for me, right? So if they're kissing by chapter four and in bed by chapter five well that's just how my brain works I guess!


	2. Awkward Friends in High Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara toils away doing filing and data entry at LexCorp when a chance at friendship with Lena Luthor presents itself after an awkward exchange. Can the blonde farmgirl get out of her own way for long enough to make the green-eyed girl her friend?
> 
> Still struggling with who she is and who she wants to be Kara's adventures in an internship at LexCorp continue with Clark and Lois trying their best to help her as Alex offers advice over the phone. Well, Lois helps while Clark is mostly awkward but he means well.
> 
> Also this chapter features a cameo appearance by Kara's abs!

Kara groaned and pulled at the collar of her baggy green turtleneck and adjusted her ponytail for the hundredth time today. All-day she'd been cursing the rather sparse clothing options she'd brought with her to Metropolis and the lack of chances to go shopping with Lois, even though she hated the whole shopping experience. Grumpily she wiped her sweaty palms on her loose black jeans and tried to focus on the work at hand.

That work was filing and data entry, endless filing and data entry in a questionably ventilated storage room in the deepest bowels of the LexCorp building on a warm summer day and she debated taking the blasted turtleneck off for the hundredth time. 

The prideful joy she’d taken in her task the first couple of days had quickly faded sadly and now she sat in her internship dungeon while sweating like a pig in a dire need of a mud bath on a hot sunny day. Farm analogies! She’d sunken to using farm analogies because she was that uncomfortable

She had tried to use a bit of her super-speed to hurry things along but that had almost melted the ancient computer she was using, and then the guilt brought on by cheating had kicked in hard so doing it the old fashioned way had been her only option.

"Screw it!" she declared out of frustration and pulled the suffocating garment up over her head revealing her sweat-drenched white tank top that clung to her skin. 

After all, she would be more comfortable doing the work in only the tank top and nobody came down here anyway. Then the old Danvers-luck kicked in and of course, Lena freaking Luthor chose that moment to check in on her.

Why did the pale-skinned girl, who was basically her boss, have to walk in when she was half undressed with a sweaty old tank top riding up her stomach and exposing her abs? Had she done something terrible in a previous life to be cursed with being this awkward around a girl she was hoping to become friends with?

"Miss Luthor! I'm so sorry! You see it is so hot and well it's just me down here and like you feel how hot it is right? And so, I decided to take this off and..." she babbled with her arms above her head but still inside the sleeves of the damned turtleneck. 

With her head sticking out of the turtleneck and her thick-rimmed glasses now crooked she felt like the biggest dork on the entire planet and Rao kill me now was the dominant thought in her mind as Lena observed her awkward state.

"I didn't say anything, but please continue with your rant if it helps cool you down," the pale-skinned girl laughed while playing with a lock of raven-black hair which the always immaculately-looking girl wore down and straight today and feeling self-conscious she hesitated.

"I can turn around if it makes you feel more comfortable," Miss Luthor offered sympathetically with a small smile and turned around which caused the red dress the girl wore that day to swirl around her pale legs.

Pausing in her awkward and mortified state, she could see that the master and commander of the LexCorp interns was wearing a sensible and lightweight red summer dress. It was a modest dress in length that came down to just above the green-eyed girl’s knees while matching red and frightfully high heels completed the look. 

What she wasn't ready for was the view of vast expanses of exposed pale skin that the dress offered, shoulders, arms, and legs proudly on display and she was so curvy too! Again, it made her very self-conscious of her tall and somewhat bulky frame as she stood a good head higher than the girl whose back was turned to her. Not that she was staring or anything like that, but she did see that Lena also had on silver earrings with green stones and rings on half the girl’s fingers glistened under the humming fluorescent lights. 

“But, it is a bit warm down here I give you that,” Miss Luthor said with her back still turned toward her while the raven-haired girl looked casually around the room.

"Thank you, and it's hotter than the farm in July down here!" she nervously exclaimed and pulled the turtleneck off completely before quickly fixing her glasses and pulling the white tank top down as far as it would stretch to cover her muscular stomach. This way she'd look somewhat presentable when the pale-skinned girl in the red dress would turn back around even though the top clung to her clammy skin.

"You know, I had you pegged for a farmgirl," Miss Luthor chuckled and turned around with a smirk on those ruby red lips. 

Seeing the girl's green eyes widen slightly she felt a strong urge to run and hide somewhere behind one of the shelves in the room. Was she being checked out, or more likely being judged for the way she was built? Because in her mind nobody could like someone like her enough to ever look at her with appreciation let alone interest.

Being well aware that she was not built like most girls meant that being judged wasn't anything new to her though. Thus, not a lot of people ever saw her exposed like this as a result. It also meant that her toned and strong arms were not something she liked showing off and had in fact been teased for back home in Midvale every fall when returning from the Kent farm. 

Adding to her insecurities were the facts that she still had a distinct freckled farmer's tan across her chest and shoulders and no bra on since, truth be told, she rarely ever wore one. Finally, it was Lena freaking Luthor seeing her like this. Here we go again, she thought and got ready for the incoming rejection and the end of another fledgling friendship.

"And now I'm jealous!" the green-eyed girl gasped to her shock and amazement and again she blushed as she got yanked from the turbulent confines of her mind.

"What? I mean why?" she blurted out in surprise while rubbing her arms still nervously wanting to hide away from under the gaze of those curious green eyes.

"Well, I don't know what they feed you on that farm of yours, but damn it's working!" Lena exclaimed, sounding genuinely impressed by her physique. The appreciative statement made her relax her arms but then the girl impulsively reached out and touched her bicep.

Time froze because no one had ever complimented, or looked at, and certainly not touched her like that before. The cool pale fingers on her skin gave her goosebumps despite the warm and stuffy room they were in and she struggled to find her voice.

"Was there anything you... wanted, Miss Luthor?" she managed to ask with her voice rumbling from deep within her chest after they'd stood frozen for a few seconds with the girl's fingers gently tracing the outline of her bicep before the moment between them passed. The soft fingertips left her skin and she kinda wanted them back there. It felt nice to be appreciated. 

"No… no just checking up on you since it's my job... and I'll just leave you to it," Miss Luthor said with her voice shaking a tiny bit when the girl looked up at her and for the first time in her life she liked being this tall.

And it would seem that the ballsy, cool, and collected Lena Luthor could be awkward too. How about that, eh? Though she didn't act as cocky as she felt. In fact, she fell back on being polite and shy out of habit since this was still awkward.

"Of course, Miss Luthor!" she blurted out and tried to get back to work but her arm kept tingling where the green-eyed girl had touched it.

"Please, it's Lena… and maybe I’ll see you at lunch? No, in fact, I insist that you join me at lunch," the girl said softly but with some of that bravado returning to her voice and was gone before she could reply.

Once she was by herself again, her mind tried to process what had just gone down and it came down to; what the freaking heck had just happened! No that had just been an awkward moment nothing else! She thought before busying herself with another box of files while she waited impatiently for lunchtime to come around. One of the perks of the internship was the excellent LexCorp cafeteria that always had something good on offer to feed her endless appetite and she’d quickly befriended the staff there. 

When the clock struck twelve, she pulled on the damnable turtleneck again as she made her way to the tenth-floor cafeteria and was greeted by a horde of sharply dressed interns. Most of them either ignored her completely even as she shyly said hello, or they talked about her in hushed tones once she’d passed by, but that was nothing new, just people being jerks.

Feeling her shoulders starting to slouch a bit in defeat she pulled herself up to her full height as she picked up her lunch with a smile and a thank you to the staff behind the counter. Two LexCorp cheeseburgers, a mountain of fries and a soda from the fountain and she really did love this part of her internship.

Looking around over the heads of the lunchtime crowd she spotted Miss Luthor again. The strange and fascinating girl was sitting in the back of the spacious and futuristic cafeteria, hunched over, and drawing something on a LexCorp branded tablet while nibbling at what looked like, yuck, Kale salad. Time to try to make friends with the green-eyed girl after that awkward exchange earlier, she decided and put on her best smile.

“Hi again Miss Luthor,” she cheerfully greeted her, and the girl looked up at her with a smile in return while looking genuinely happy for the company. It was easy to see that being the owner’s sister didn’t make the poor girl that popular judging from the literal dead zone of tables around them.

“I told you Danvers, it’s Lena, please sit,” the green-eyed girl urged her and kicked out a chair for her that she accepted with a nod.

“Sorry, Lena it is, but only if you call me Kara,” she replied while trying not to sound too cheerful and placed her tray down before rubbing her hands together with unbridled glee. Lunchtime!

“If you insist, but I was kind of getting used to thinking of you as Farmgirl,” Lena laughed, and she almost spat out the mouthful of burger she’d just bitten off.

“Relax Kara, I’m teasing you,” the pale-skinned girl assured her and took a forkful of the leafy greens from her bowl that looked way too healthy.

“If you say so… but in my experience, usually when people tease me it’s because they’re being mean,” she admitted truthfully after swallowing the tasty bite of her cheeseburger, and for some reason, she felt comfortable speaking her mind around this girl, or maybe this was that new but yet still undefined person she was trying to become poking through that Danvers politeness. 

“Look, I get it, I mean nobody sits with me because they don’t want to be seen as sucking up to Lex’s sister,” Lena replied without missing a beat while eyeing her fries rather hungrily.

“Yeah, I can imagine that sucking pretty hard and it’s the same with me and my cousin,” she replied and pushed the plate of fries closer to the green-eyed girl as an offering of friendship.

“And who pray tell is your cousin? Because no offense but my mother didn’t make me memorize any famous Danvers names when I was ten,” Lena asked while swiping a fry and biting into it gleefully.

“Clark Kent, he’s a reporter at the Daily Planet and…” she started but the green-eyed girl finished the sentence for her.

“...and has a Pulitzer Prize, a hot fiancée who also has a Pulitzer for reporting from war zones, is friends with Superman and genuinely considered just a swell guy? Yeah, Lex has told me about him, that’s rough,” Lena chuckled, and she gave the girl a grateful smile.

“It’s a lot to live up to, everybody expects me to go into journalism like him but I want to make things, you know?” she asked and chomped down on another bite of her LexCorp burger.

“Trust me I know, and remember you are your own person and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise,” the green-eyed girl said firmly with unexpected fire in her eyes and she felt a warm feeling spreading in her stomach which she put down to the chili sauce on the burger.

“Thank you, it means a lot to hear that from someone like you,” she replied earnestly and picked at her fries.

“Someone like me?” Lena asked with that intimidating raised eyebrow that sent her into a mild panic as she scrambled for an answer. Deciding to go with some of her trademark earnestness that the girl seemed to enjoy she let loose. 

“Duh! I mean, gosh have you seen yourself lately! Like, you’re in charge of things, don’t take no bull from anyone from what I’ve seen, dress like a model every day and I’m like… jealous!” she blurted out and that made the green-eyed girl smile brightly.

“You really are adorably earnest and maybe a bit too generous with your praise, but thank you!” the pale-skinned girl laughed, and she shrugged and smiled.

“You know, I had a good feeling about you the other day and tell you what, maybe we can help each other out?” Lena then suggested while swiping another fry from her plate.

“How so?” she asked as she got a bit suspicious out of habit, but she had a good feeling about this girl, so she pushed that evil feeling deep down inside of her mind.

“You let me help you dress a bit better for the summer heat, because trust me it’s only going to get worse and in return you show me how to get arms and abs like that,” Lena suggested and grinned at her while taking the third fry.

“What’s wrong with the way I dress?” she asked defensively and pulled at her green turtleneck self-consciously. Old habits and fears seemingly died very hard she was learning, and she liked her baggy clothes.

“Oh, nothing at all darling! In fact, I love the whole look you’ve got going on here, but it’s maybe not the best for these hot Metropolis summers,” the green-eyed girl declared with a gesture of her pale hand at the red dress barely covering all that pale skin and that did make her blush. Also, was that a tongue piercing she had just spotted? Focus Zor-El!

“I don’t like dresses,” she admitted and got very interested in her burger for some reason. All she knew was that she liked dressing this way, it felt good, unrestrictive but it also helped her hide away her body.

“And I think you’d look much better in a nice lightweight and breathable linen suit or maybe in another fitted shirt because it’s a shame to deny those arms to the world you know,” Lena stated again in a voice that sounded like audible chocolate and that made her look up with a faint smile. 

Oh, come on! Just say yes to the nice and pretty girl already Zor-El! The voice in her head that sounded a bit like her sister Alex chastised her. What harm could it bring after all? Deciding to be a bit brave and bold she grinned at the green-eyed girl and let her voice drop a little.

“And I think you wouldn’t be able to handle one day at the farm, but if you know a good gym nearby then we have a deal,” she chuckled and it wasn’t only working at the farm that made her the way she was. She also loved the makeshift gym that was set up in the old barn there, first by Clark in his teens and then expanded by her when she had started visiting for the summers.

“Perfect, this Saturday then?” the green-eyed girl asked catching her off-guard and picked up her latest model phone which gave her pause.

“Uh sure!” she blurted out and then remembered she’d never texted the girl since getting her number. Partly because she didn’t really need to and partly because she was scared to reach out.

“Here this is my number, I know I never texted you because... well reception down in that room is so bad and well here… sorry,” she blurted out her apology and texted almost too fast to be considered normal for a human with a string of emojis filling her screen before hitting send.

“Kara relax, I could have gotten your number from your employee file, but that’s a very... cute text,” Lena laughed when the latest model phone vibrated in the girl’s hand.

“Sorry, got excited,” she apologized sheepishly, since growing up she’d not had many friends aside from Alex so the idea of maybe having one here in Metropolis made her impulsive.

“It’s alright, it’s more of that earnest farmgirl charm you got going on and you can meet me here. I’ll bring my gym gear and we can go shopping, or whatever you want to do first,” the green-eyed girl offered and messaged her an address for what sounded like an upscale mall.

“It’s okay, but we don’t have to go shopping… I don’t really have any money and it’s not my thing really…” she started apologizing for her meager funds since farm work, as rewarding as it was, didn't pay much and she hadn’t gotten her first internship paycheck yet.

“My treat, we can’t have you sweating for the next few weeks down there in the dungeon, now can we?” Lena asked and held up her rings covered hand to stop her incoming protests.

“Look, consider it my apology for bursting in on you earlier,” the green-eyed girl offered and while she wanted to argue with her, she quickly realized that it would be pointless because there was something about the look in those sharp green eyes that spoke volumes about Lena Luthor’s resolve.

“Alright but only if you let me pay you back as soon as I can,” she agreed and finished off her first burger so she wouldn’t say something awkward and the green-eyed girl nodded happily. 

“Are you... going to eat that other burger?” Lena asked sheepishly and pointed to the uneaten LexCorp issue cheeseburger still untouched on the tray.

“Go ahead,” she mumbled with a mouthful of burger and the grateful look on the girl’s face made her giggle.

“You’re the best, but you can’t tell my mother about this though,” the green-eyed girl laughed before she bit into the burger with gusto and an audible moan of pleasure.

“My lips are sealed,” she declared and took a sip from her soda which the green-eyed girl eyed hungrily too. Something told her that the girl’s mother had her on a strict diet of some kind and that gave her an idea.

“And here, let’s swap,” she giggled and exchanged her soda and fries for the girl’s salad and sparkling water.

“Thank you,” Lena mumbled with a mouthful of burger and soda and it was amazing that such a simple gesture made the girl happy.

“I need to take you to this place my cousin got takeout from the other night, they have the best pizza,” she said and picked at the Kale salad.

“After our shopping trip, we can do whatever you want. It will be fun to just hang out,” the green-eyed girl nodded happily and devoured the burger and fries in between large gulps of soda.

“I would like that… so what are you working on there?” she asked and nodded towards the tablet that the girl had been drawing on when she’d arrived.

“Just some designs, but mother says I should focus on our philanthropic endeavors like a well-behaved little socialite, but I love working on stuff like this you know,” Lena explained and showed her a sketch for what looked like a lightweight battle-suit, not unlike some of the designs her aunt Astra had taught her about on Krypton.

“That looks like a design for a Kevlar and polymer-based battle-suit,” she observed without thinking and then wanted to give herself a hard kick for that slip-up, but the green-eyed girl rolled with it.

“You’ve got a good eye for this kind of stuff I see... what kind of engineering did you want to get into again?” Lena asked her with a smirk, and she hid her sigh of relief behind a forkful of salad.

“Applied or mechanical engineering because both sound fun, but flying is cool too so aerospace engineering as well or ooh maybe some software stuff,” she said and in fact, she wanted to do it all and probably could if she wasn’t forced to hold back for the sake of hiding her Kryptonian heritage.

“That’s a lot, color me very impressed Farmgirl,” the green-eyed girl laughed and turned the tablet back to make some notes on it. 

“What about you, are you planning on studying anything?” she asked and played around with the salad bowl she’d exchanged her second cheeseburger for, she regretted the swap slightly, but it was a small price to pay for friendship and the smile on Lena’s lips. 

“A few things, mostly online classes though and you must know that us Luthors we’re all geniuses, right?” Lena tried to sidestep the question, but she’d grown up around two Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporters.

“Come on, I’m sure there is more to it than that... it’s alright you can tell me,” she said sweetly, and she could see the pale-skinned girl wavering.

“I’m mostly into computers right now, programming… building some small-scale robotics and… some hacking,” the green-eyed girl whispered and leaned forward over the table while speaking that last part as she tried not to gape.

“Isn’t that illegal…” she whispered back in shock and leaned over the table, so they were almost nose to nose and yep that was definitely a tongue piercing she saw when Lena spoke again. 

“Only if you get caught and you won’t turn me in will you?” the green-eyed girl teased her, and she found herself looking into those sparkling green eyes. Was the girl being serious or not, she couldn’t tell, but she decided that Lena Luthor was fun!

“I’m sure I can be… convinced to stay quiet,” she whispered back and looked around the cafeteria like they were in a spy novel which caused Lena to burst out laughing.

“Ha! I knew you weren’t like the rest of those stuffed suits Farmgirl,” the mischievous girl declared and tossed a French fry into the salad in front of her.

“And I think you’re a sneaky one, Lena Luthor,” she teased the girl right back which earned her the most angelic expression from the green-eyed girl. Which she didn’t buy for one second.

“Who me?” Lena asked with a wide grin on her face and clasped her hands in front of her like she was praying.

“Yep! Ma Kent warned me about girls like you,” she laughed and that piqued the girl’s curiosity which caused her to launch into a story about her life on the Kent Farm. How she helped with the cows and fixing the fences and how they’d patched up the old barn’s roof this spring and in Lena, she found a captive audience.

After lunch, the job didn’t feel so mind-numbing anymore, and she was smiling at the thought of hanging out with Lena that weekend. Was this what it felt like to have a friend? Alex was of course her best friend and her sister, but she was busy with her still very hush-hush government thing and it couldn’t hurt to have a friend in Metropolis, right? Even if that friend was part of the family that owned the company she was interning at and not to mention half the city?

* * *

It was Friday after work and Kara found herself pacing around the small bedroom that was hers for the summer as she talked to Alex over the phone while she kept throwing clothes on the bed. Saturday was, amazingly, tomorrow she was pretty sure of that and she’d been counting the days until she’d get to hang out with Lena again. 

The raven-haired girl had been mysteriously absent from the LexCorp building since their lunch together and she found herself missing her new friend with texting being a pale replacement for the energetic girl’s companionship. To make things worse, now Alex was repeating her usual paranoid spiel about how she had to be careful with her identity and alien heritage around people.

“You’re being way too paranoid Alex,” she protested and laid out a pair of grey cotton shorts and a white workout top for tomorrow.

“I’m telling you to be careful that’s all,” her sister argued over the phone and she could picture the worried look on Alex’s face.

“I am being careful and I’m not going to do anything alien around her, don’t worry,” she sighed and threw a pair of tube socks on the pile of her gym clothes.

“That’s not what I meant, she’s a rich girl who is used to getting her own way,” her sister countered and sounded worried.

“Well, maybe I want someone to have their own way with me,” she fired back, and that made Alex pause and actually her too. From where in the fricking heck had that come from?

“Kara!” Alex exclaimed loudly over the phone and she moved it away from her ear because people always forgot about her super hearing!

“Oh relax, she’s a friend that’s all and I happily leave playing the field to you since I’m sure you’re cleaning up at that place you can’t tell me anything about,” she said as her follow-up punch to her sister’s ego. 

“Ouch, Metropolis is giving you some bite!” her sister laughed and sounded mock wounded at her comment, but she knew her adopted sister and Alex Danvers was a player when it came to the ladies.

“I’m trying to be polite I swear, but everyone here is just so… ugh… fake and the same as in Midvale,” she declared and threw herself on the bed in frustration.

“But not Lena Luthor?” her sister asked back with an audible grin and she smiled at the thought of the green-eyed girl.

“She’s bossy, loud and brass while at the same time being stupid smart, but there is this sadness to her you know?” she muttered and checked the last message from the green-eyed girl that read: _Sorry I’ve not been around much, family being a pain and I can’t wait until tomorrow_.

“You’re too nice Kara, but that’s what makes you who you are. Still, be careful, Lena Luthor is a public figure and if you’re seen with her it might draw attention to you,” Alex reasoned, and she could hear the barely hidden fear and worry in her sister’s voice.

“I’ll be careful, okay, but I think she really just needs a friend,” she said to calm her sister’s worries.

“That’s all I needed to hear, so you’re taking her to the gym?” her sister asked, sounding less worried now and more surprised and laughing.

“Yep! She wants to take me shopping in exchange for me showing her how we do things at the farm,” she explained cheerfully and flexed her bicep above her head as she lay on the bed. 

“Well, try not to kill her, because I’ve worked out with you and you’re a beast!” Alex chuckled and it was true because she found lifting heavy things fun and cathartic. Granted at the farm she used an old axle ripped from an old tractor and a selection of boulders they’d dug up when they made the new well.

“I’ll go easy on her because I think she just wants an excuse to go shopping,” she mused and got off the bed to look in the mirror.

“Try not to groan too much when it comes to the shopping though! Look I got to go, and I won’t tell you to be careful again, but I hope you have fun,” her sister advised her, and she could hear someone calling Alex’s name in the background of the call.

“I’ll try and you keep doing whatever top-secret government stuff you’re doing over there in parts unknown,” she replied and touched the spot where Lena had brushed soft fingers against it the other day.

“I’ll tell you all about it someday, I promise, love you,” Alex said her goodbyes and she smiled both because her sister genuinely sounded happy and because she wasn’t totally panicking for once.

“Love you too, now go be a spy or something,” she teased her sister and after hanging up she put the phone down as she studied her reflection in the mirror for the millionth time.

What she couldn’t process was the fact that Lena hadn’t been put off when she’d seen her exposed body at the office the other day. In fact, the raven-haired girl had been impressed, and that had given her a boost of confidence for some reason. 

Shaking her head, she pulled up her t-shirt and studied her abs while sucking in her stomach with a grin. They did look quite good, she decided before dropping the shirt back down and Lena had seen it all and not uttered one mean word. Still, she got out a baggy hoodie to wear at the gym because even if Lena Luthor didn’t mind her body others still might.

Despite what she’d told her sister, she did like to think that maybe in Metropolis she could find someone who would appreciate her for who she was. But who could like her with all her secrets and complications? She wondered as she studied the muscles in her forearm after placing the hoodie on the pile of clothes on the bed. 

Still, it would be nice to have someone to do those sorts of things with, she mused and started feeling a warmth rising in the pit of her stomach as she pictured some faceless lover running their hands over her body. Pulling up the t-shirt again she stroked her abs with her eyes closed. Thinking about someone gently running their soft fingers over her skin she was about to lay down on the bed for some much-needed me-time.

But before she could get down to business, that freaking Danvers-luck kicked in yet again, or perhaps it was the Zor-El luck, with a knock at the door which made her put on the hoodie at superspeed before shouting for the knocker to enter. Clark poked his head through the door and her cousin was smiling as always. Smiling back nervously she realized she wasn’t wearing her glasses and darted to put them on. 

“Hey, how are you holding up?” Clark asked stepping into the room awkwardly with something behind his back. Tall, broad-shouldered, blue-eyed, with his dark-hair spit-curled with his glasses on and in flannel, her cousin was the very definition of the wholesome all-American guy. But Rao, his timing royally sucked!

“I’m okay, just laying out my stuff for going to hang with Lena tomorrow,” she white-lied without feeling guilty about it with a small smile and sat down on the bed as her cousin shifted from one foot to the other. Despite being the world’s greatest hero, the man could be extremely awkward.

“I know... Lois told me and you’re going shopping tomorrow, right?” he asked awkwardly, and she nodded giving him a curious look.

“Yes, that’s not a problem is it?” she asked, and he shook his head as he sheepishly handed her the stack of bills he’d been hiding behind his back.

“No, not at all, but shopping would be easier with this wouldn’t it?” he asked and winked that gosh-darned wink of his at her.

“Clark… no, I can’t,” she protested, not used to accepting things from anyone, not even her cousin. Even Lena’s offer had been accepted on the provision that she pay the girl back for anything she might like, not that she expected to find anything she’d even want to buy. 

“I insist, it’s your first time here in Metropolis and you should have some fun... it’s also from Lois, think of it as our welcome to Metropolis gift,” he insisted and with a grateful smile she reluctantly accepted the gift.

“So… how are you liking Metropolis?” he asked, still awkward to a degree and sat down on the bed next to her.

“It’s okay, but I haven’t really gotten a chance to explore it since they’ve kept me pretty busy at LexCorp,” she admitted, in fact, this outing with Lena would be her first real chance to see the city since arriving in it.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around much to show you the sights... summertime always seems to bring out the supervillains you know,” he apologized with a chuckle, and she shook her head at how impeccably polite her cousin could be.

“Kal, chill okay? You’re Superman, I understand,” she stated and put her arm around her technically younger cousin.

“And you’re the only one who calls me that, well aside from Diana,” he replied with a grin and she never understood why he didn’t speak Kryptonian more around her.

“Kal-El is who you are and it’s the name your parents gave you, just as I am Kara Zor-El,” she spoke in Kryptonian and she could see him struggling to keep up.

“I know, but I guess I will always be Clark Kent first,” he replied in his heavily accented Kryptonian that almost made her wince.

“See, this is why I was sent here! To teach you this stuff!” she laughed while still sticking to the language of Krypton and again she could see him struggling to keep up.

“You’re right, maybe I do need a... few lessons,” he admitted using a few English words mixed with the Kryptonian ones.

“Oh, you need a lot of lessons Kal-El!” she admonished him mockingly and punched him in the shoulder.

“So… Lena Luthor and you are… friends?” he asked and that made her roll her eyes at him. Poor Kal truly was Clark Kent the Kansas farm boy that much was obvious.

“Yes, we’re just friends, not even sure we’re friends yet since I’ve only known her for a week and she’s kinda my boss too,” she explained patiently to him. Being the technically older cousin did lead to some weird conversations.

“I’m not judging or making any presumptions, but I know how confusing things can be during your first time in Metropolis,” he said holding up his hands in defense.

“Don’t worry Clark I’m not going to be dating anyone while I’m here… I think,” she assured him and who would want a muscular and clumsy farmgirl anyways.

“I’m not telling you not to date, just be... careful when you do… stuff... though I’m not sure how that works for you with the whole bisexuality… is that’s what it’s called?” he stammered while scratching the back of his neck and actually blushed as her eyes went wide in horror.

“Ewww! Clark!” she exclaimed and this time she punched him in the shoulder with full force causing him to rock from side to side on the bed.

“Owww! Alright, this isn’t easy you know,” he fired back and returned the punch, but she didn’t even move or flinch.

“Clark! I had the Kryptonian birds and the bees talk with mom on Krypton when I was twelve, the Earth one with Eliza when I was fourteen and the birds and birds talk with Alex when I was fifteen, so trust me I’m fully prepared and forewarned! Dinner would be nice though,” she assured him and laughed.

“Oh good, good, then I’ll just go... get dinner,” he said sounding clearly thankful for the out he was being given and stood up sheepishly.

“Pizza this time and… maybe I can fly with you?” she asked hopefully and then sighed when he shook his head.

“No, I’ll get it the old-fashioned way, but I promise we’ll start your lessons again soon,” he assured her, and her shoulders slumped.

“Fine, but there better be extra pepperoni on that pizza!” she huffed and waved him away and showing himself to not being totally clueless he left her to her stewing.

Soon, that had been the word he’d repeated over and over again since she’d turned eighteen but there had been a scant few lessons since then and only at the farm. But she ached to fly, ached to do good and fight evil but everyone kept telling her that she didn’t have to fight or that she wasn’t ready. Well, she damn well felt ready!

Standing up she walked to the window and flung it open and the warm breeze hit her face. It would be so easy to climb onto the fire-escape and just launch herself into the sky and soar! Staring at the darkening sky outside her window while clenching her fists until her knuckles turned white she felt the power rising within her chest but before she could take off it was Lois’s turn to poke her head into her room. 

“Hey Farmgirl, just wanted to check in on you because I hope that wasn’t too awkward?” the reporter with the violet eyes asked and she let out the frustrated breath she’d been holding in.

“No more than usual,” she laughed as the ache and anger left her again and she turned away from the window.

“Good, he insisted on being the one to give you the money and you know Clark, once he gets something in his head he’s got to do it... reminds me of someone else I know actually,” Lois chuckled and leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest.

“You’re not going to tell me to be careful tomorrow, are you? Because I don’t think I can handle hearing that for the third time today,” she asked and busied herself with packing her gym bag for the next day.

“No, you’re smarter than they give you credit for and having a friend or a girlfriend is never a bad thing in my book,” the reporter assured her and she could feel the woman’s eyes following her around the room.

“And Clark might not tell you this, but I will. Buy the clothes you want to wear,” Lois went on which made her turn around feeling lost and confused.

“What if I don’t know what I want?” she asked and hugged herself. It wasn’t only the clothes but so many other things as well.

“Then we’re here to help you figure that out, or well I am, but I’m sure Clark will help too,” the reporter told her gently and stepping into the room put a comforting hand on her cheek.

Giving a laugh she gave the woman a grateful smile and nodded her head. These confused feelings about who she was weren’t new. But, being here in Metropolis, away from Midvale and Smallville, away from what she thought of as normal and being at LexCorp made them all bubble to the surface with a vengeance. Also, it didn’t help that being around Lena Luthor made her question many more things about herself on top of all the other things on her messy emotional plate.

“Want to come and help me lay the table for dinner and you can tell me more about your day?” Lois asked and she gave a nod as her stomach grumbled its agreement to the topic of dinner. The who am I questions could wait until another day because right now she wanted to gossip with her honorary aunt and eat pizza while Clark looked on in confusion. Then tomorrow she’d worry about how to survive going shopping with Lena Luthor and not mess up making the girl her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took much longer than planned to edit and it kept getting longer and longer as I proofread it, so I hope you guys enjoyed the extra-length adventures of Kara Danvers
> 
> Next up, yep it's a gym session and a shopping trip and a few other things as Kara learns more about Lena's messy life.


	3. Mallrats and Misadventures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara gets dragged shopping by her new friend, or so she hopes, Lena Luthor as their day progresses she finds out a few things about the green-eyed girl while Lena tries her best to get Kara to relax just a little bit.
> 
> Kara battles her worries and fears while she spends the day with Lena Luthor.

Kara fiddled with her ponytail and shifted her gym bag on her shoulder as she waited at the upscale Metropolis America Mall for Lena Luthor to arrive. The pale girl was running late, or maybe it was her that was early since she’d turned down Lois’s offer of a ride and taken the bus here instead. The very first bus of the day, the one that started running two hours before the mall even opened, and that had stopped five blocks away forcing her to run the rest of the way here. 

Rubbing her hands on the front of her favorite pair of jeans, which were well-worn and comfortable with her beaten-up sneakers on her feet and wearing a baggy burgundy sweater despite it being a sunny day she wondered if she had been stood up. Another recurring fear of hers to go along with the bundle of other worries that plagued her mind. But that couldn’t be, checking her phone she reread the weird message she had gotten from Lena at three in the morning declaring that the girl was looking forward to today. Looking around she saw that the mall was getting more crowded but there still was no sign of Lena Luthor.

“She’ll be here, you’re not being abandoned,” she whispered to herself and tightened her grip on the strap of her Midvale High gym bag where she’d reluctantly been on the soccer team even though wrestling and football had been what she had really wanted to do.

Then the crowds of what she internally labeled as a bunch of very fancy city-folk seemed to part and Lena with her raven-black hair in a messy bun with a few hairs sticking out, wearing dark designer sunglasses and clutching a takeaway cup of coffee for dear life appeared out of the crowd. The today very pale girl was wearing tight and punky ripped jeans, a black band t-shirt, and brand new-looking high top sneakers with a backpack slung over one shoulder that looked like it cost more than her entire wardrobe. The girl also looked a bit unsteady on her feet and she was immediately worried.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked after rushing towards the girl and in response, Lena let out a groan while pitifully covering her ears with her hand and rather ineffectually the cup of coffee.

“Sshh… not… not so loud,” the very pale girl begged in a whisper and she could see the dark circles under the girl’s eyes when the sunglasses slid down her nose. 

“Are you… are you hungover?” she whispered back in shock and that earned her a raised eyebrow from behind the dark shades. 

“Duh! Didn’t you get my text?” Lena asked and shifted the backpack around most definitely sounding like she looked with that usually assured voice sounding raspy and croaky.

“At three in the morning, yeah, but I thought you couldn’t sleep or something!” she exclaimed with her voice rising again and the very pale girl winced at the volume.

“You’re adorable… but not so loud, please,” Lena begged her pitifully again and took a long sip from her coffee while looking at her pleadingly over the rim of her sunglasses.

“Sorry, here let’s sit down,” she whispered and ushered the girl to a nearby bench while resisting the urge to use her X-ray vision to make sure she was alright, and never before had she thought about using her powers like that.

“Sorry.... if I’m a bit of a mess today,” Lena apologized once they’d sat down and the green-eyed girl had pulled off her sunglasses. There indeed were dark circles under the girl’s eyes today and her usually shimmering green eyes were bloodshot and puffy.

Thinking about it she had a fairly good idea as to why the green-eyed and very pale girl was hungover today as the last few text messages that she’d received from her started making sense. The text telling her that the girl’s family was being a pain and on further inspection, the late-night text was actually more typos than words. The green-eyed girl was clearly having a rough week and not really able to tell anyone about it

“It’s alright, you had me worried that’s all,” she admitted and in a moment of impulsiveness put an arm around the petite girl’s shoulders. 

“You’re sweet, but it’s alright… mother has just been particularly… difficult this week, so I went out clubbing last night, you should have come,” Lena mumbled and didn’t flinch away from her touch.

“I don’t really do those sorts of things and I’d be too worried about getting lost on my way home,” she muttered back and felt very inexperienced compared to this clearly socially active and outgoing girl. 

“Oh trust me, you’d be a big hit at this club, and don’t worry I always find my way home,” Lena assured her with a smirk while looking up at her with some of that playful shimmering light returning to those green eyes.

“I’m not so sure about that, but how about we take your mind off your mom and your hangover and start the day with some workouts?” she offered with a nod towards the nearby gym and the look of horror on the girl’s face made her laugh.

“Don’t give me that look, plus sweating out the toxins from last night will do you good!” she assured the girl while again she struggled not to be too loud since the pale girl really did look pitiful in her hungover state.

“If you say so Farmgirl,” Lena drawled while sounding unconvinced and finished her cup of coffee with a content sigh.

“Come on, I’ll go easy on you, promise!” she exclaimed and despite wincing from the volume of her voice the pale and hungover girl gave her a smile.

The gym was nice, like super nice, like she couldn’t believe that they’d let her in here nice, but here she was, wearing her well-worn grey shorts and hoodie in her ratty sneakers and tube socks. The gym’s private changing rooms had been a blessing because she honestly hadn’t thought about how she was going to change while being watched. But, now standing next to Lena who was wearing very new and expensive-looking workout clothes she once again felt painfully out of place.

“Where do we start coach?” Lena asked, now sounding a bit perkier than before thanks to an energy drink injection or two. The pale-skinned girl was wearing dark green leggings and a black sports bra tank top with white sneakers that looked fresh out of the box. Again, showing off her pale skin and body without any awkwardness or shame.

“Warmups! You should always warm up first,” she explained and started walking the girl through the basics of warming up different muscle groups through a series of stretches.

“You do this often then?” the pale girl asked while following her lead a bit clumsily, but it was nothing that couldn’t be worked on. 

“Yeah, whenever I get the chance and we’ve even got a makeshift gym at the farm,” she replied with a smile and did a few stretches that looked like yoga but were, in reality, a form of Kryptonian meditation exercises.

“You ever tip over cows?” Lena asked with a grin and she had to admit that the girl was a quick study though a bit stiff, but they could also work on that.

“Oh no! You never tip over cows, that’s so mean!” she exclaimed and without thinking about it put her hand on the middle of Lena’s back to help the girl with her stretching as the girl tried to touch her toes.

“Noted, cow tipping bad,” the pale-skinned girl laughed and didn’t comment on the hand placement. Though she pulled her hand as fast as she could once she realized what she was doing. In general, she didn’t like being touched and assumed that was true for other people as well.

“Yes, it is very bad! Now, it’s important to limber and warm up your muscles, else you might hurt yourself. I usually go for a short run before I do any sort of weights,” she explained while slipping comfortably into the role of the teacher.

“Limber up, run, lift heavy stuff, got it!” Lena exclaimed almost like she was making a mental checklist and that did make her laugh.

“You’re very organized you know,” she observed and led the now hopefully limbered up girl to the treadmills while reminding herself to make sure not to run too fast.

“It’s a family trait I’m afraid, we love lists, not to mention plots and plans,” the pale-skinned girl declared dramatically. 

“Plots and plans, you make it sound like a day-time soap opera!” she laughed and started jogging as she started feeling hot underneath the hoodie.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Lena muttered and tried to match her pace but quickly had to set it quite a bit lower.

“Don’t worry about keeping up with me, we’re just going to run for a bit at our own pace,” she instructed the girl and flashed her a reassuring smile which was returned.

The running on the fancy treadmill wasn’t hard compared to the cross-country runs she went on at the farm, but she did feel uncomfortably warm in her bundled-up outfit and it gave her mind a chance to wander even more than it usually did. It didn’t help that next to her was Lena in those skintight green leggings and matching tight black top that kept bouncing up and down she again felt very out of place in her baggy hoodie and shorts. 

You shouldn’t have touched her Zor-El, the chastising voice in her mind told her and she looked down at her rough and calloused hand while piling on the speed. It had been very impolite to touch the green-eyed girl without asking first and she knew it, but it had been to help her stretch or so she reasoned with herself. Don’t get too close to anyone or they might find out who you really are Zor-El, her fears spoke to her as she ran.

Again, these fears weren’t new, her sunny disposition and politeness were there to avoid being pitied, abandoned, or left trapped somewhere. Running faster to try and stop thinking about all those uncomfortable things but her fragile ego wouldn’t let her off the hook that easily. It brought up the fact she didn’t really bounce at all compared to Lena, which led to her almost going too fast before the timer ran out but thankfully Lena hadn’t noticed the speed she’d been going at towards the end.

“Now the weights?” Lena asked excitedly with a smile after jumping off the treadmill and the workout was, she hoped, making the girl feel less hungover. For some reason at the sight of the girl smiling all her worries seemed to fade for the time being and she put them down to being out of her element today. 

“Yes, my padawan, now the weights, don’t worry I’ll start you off easy,” she joked and wiped the stream of sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her hoodie.

“You’re a Star Wars fan too, you’re all sorts of surprising and you can take that off if you want,” Lena suggested while sounding rather sweet actually as they walked up to the weight rack in front of the gym’s intimidating floor to ceiling mirrors.

“Take what off?” she asked playing dumb and doing a fairly awful job of it since she didn’t do sneaky all that well in general.

“The hoodie, I can see you sweating, and you look miserable,” the pale-skinned girl commented and pointed at the baggy gray hoodie with one manicured finger.

“I… I… can’t…” she stammered and looked around the gym nervously. There weren’t a lot of people there this early, seeing as it was so upscale that she still couldn’t quite believe she was allowed in here.

“Nobody will say anything and if they do, I’ll have them thrown out,” Lena assured her, and she felt her eyes go wide. Did this girl understand her fears? Or was she just being that transparent?

“I don’t like to be teased that’s all,” she admitted shyly but started pulling the hoodie up over her head, and truthfully it was a relief because she was in reality quite hot being this bundled up. Admitting that wasn’t easy for that because the only thing she hated more than being teased was to be pitied. 

“If you get teased you remind yourself that those people are idiots,” the pale-skinned girl declared, and she gave a thankful smile as the hoodie came off. Rao it felt good to be out of that thing!

“Isn’t that better?” Lena asked and in a move that pleasantly surprised her, the girl took the hoodie from her and folded it up before placing it on a nearby weight bench.

“Much!” she croaked nervously, and she could see herself in the mirror now, the white tank top sticking to her tan skin and her toned arms and broad shoulders exposed for the world to see. 

Breathe Zor-El, just breathe it’s fine, she thought to herself, but she still couldn’t fully fight back against her long-held fears as she gave a paranoid glance around the gym, which the green-eyed girl caught right away. 

“See, nobody is looking, though they really should be because… damn,” Lena assured her with a smile and stood next to her in front of the mirror. 

Nodding silently, she couldn’t help but to notice just how much shorter than her the petite girl was, and she relaxed her arms while unclenching her fists. The freckles and the farmers-tan were both of course still there, and the outlines of her muscles stood out clearly after their warmups, but she didn’t feel the urge to hide away like she usually did when this exposed. Not when she had a friend standing next to her like Lena was doing. Then she noticed that Lena was giving her a curious look with those bright green eyes and that made her snap back to reality as again she wondered if this was what friendship was supposed to feel like.

“Back to work,” she declared, hoping to avoid making things awkward, well more awkward than usual, and grabbed the two heaviest dumbbells she could get her mitts on. 

“Yes coach Danvers!” Lena laughed and grabbed an admittedly much smaller set of dumbbells and waited to be instructed.

“You like giving people nicknames, don’t you?” she chuckled and showed the pale-skinned girl the basics for doing a bicep curl. These dumbbells weren’t like the massive pieces of metal she’d bent into shape for her use back at the Kent farm, but they would do.

“Only people I really like, and you are just so multi-talented,” the girl laughed and struggled a bit to keep up with her even with the much smaller weights.

“Flattery won’t make me go easy on you,” she teased back and that earned her another laugh from the hungover Luthor as she curled the weights while looking into the mirror to make sure Lena was doing it right and slowly so she wouldn’t potentially hurt herself.

By the end of their little workout session she was feeling pretty good about herself as she was, for the time being, no longer as self-conscious as before and Lena made a great workout partner once the girl got the hang of the weights. The green-eyed girl’s constant banter and questions also meant she couldn’t pause and worry about things like she was prone to doing. 

On top of being a chatterbox, the pale-skinned girl was also quite the cheerleader always egging her on to lift heavier and heavier weights, especially while doing the lateral press. It took some effort on her part to stop at what would have been an acceptable upper limit for a girl her age because again she got this strange urge to show off for the Luthor girl.

“Uncle, uncle,” she cried dramatically and dropped the dumbbells to the floor with a loud thud. She’d been pressing them above her head while sitting reclined on the weight bench and could have gone all day, but appearances had to be maintained.

“You are incredible!” Lena cheered for her and threw her a towel to wipe down her sweat-drenched face. 

“It’s nothing,” she mumbled into the towel and used it to hide her blush. Nobody had ever watched her working out before and here was this amazing girl cheering her on every step of the way.

Without thinking about it and being way into her routine, she tossed the towel back to Lena before she got down on the floor and did her sit-ups while the green-eyed girl watched her in disbelief at that she could just keep going like that. So, again she had to stop herself, especially because her top was riding up her stomach and again, she reminded herself that normal people had limits. 

“Nothing? Nothing!? Farmgirl, you are probably the strongest person I know, and I think you could toss my brother’s bodyguards around like it was nothing if you wanted to!” the pale-skinned girl with her green eyes glistening with excitement declared while standing over her with her arms crossed over her bouncy chest. Knock it off Zor-El!

“Well, right now this Farmgirl needs a shower and a burger,” she laughed as she jumped back to her feet and bounced a few times to shake off her nervous energy.

“After that, I’d say that you’ve earned at least three and then we shop!” Lena said while sounding very excited for the upcoming shopping slash torture experience and handed her back the now folded up hoodie.

“No,” she said firmly and shook her head, she wasn’t putting that thing back on anytime soon she decided.

“No to the hoodie or no to the burger? Because I could really use one right about now,” Lena teased her, and she smirked at the girl.

“No on the hoodie, heck yes to the burgers and do we have to, on the shopping,” she replied with a bit of a whine to her voice while making sure to stretch out her arms and shoulders so she wouldn’t be sore in the morning.

“Is that alright with you?” she asked when the girl had gone quiet for a second and when she looked at Lena, the green-eyed girl was still holding the hoodie and giving her a weird look.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, but you’re not getting out of shopping. I'm getting you into some Metropolis appropriate clothes even if it kills me!” Lena blurted out and then composed herself.

“Are you sure that you’re alright?” she asked and took a long sip from the water bottle the gym had provided feeling the cool water running down her throat as she swallowed it greedily.

“Just a bit worn out that’s all, I’ll see you outside okay?” Lena asked hurriedly and feeling a bit buzzed from her workout she chalked the girl’s moment of awkwardness up to her hangover.

“Sure, just don’t take too long getting ready,” she teased Lena and then her bottomless stomach gave a loud grumble.

“Hey, perfection takes time you know, but I promise not to keep you and whatever that beast in your stomach is waiting,” the pale-skinned girl declared with a laugh while pointing at her stomach before turning on her heel and marching off with the hoodie.

“Weird,” she mumbled while she put the weights away because she’d been taught that you should always clean up after your workouts.

Catching herself in the mirror she smiled at her reflection and looking around to make sure she wasn’t being watched she flexed her arms a few times. Then she lifted up her top and tightened her abs before rushing for the changing rooms when her stomach gave another loud grumble. What she didn’t see was Lena Luthor watching her from around the corner while texting someone on her phone with a smirk on her lips.

After a quick shower, she pulled on her baggy clothes, cleaned her glasses on the corner of her sweater before she tied her messy blonde hair into a quick braid and then she waited, surrounded by tiny rich girls that she was sure she could bench press, for Lena to emerge on the other side of the changing rooms. Lena had been right! Perfection took time and that became evident when the green-eyed girl emerged in all her glory. Because there was no trace of the hungover girl from earlier or the sweaty one from the gym. Instead, Lena was perky, alert, with her green eyes once again shimmering brightly. 

“You ready Farmgirl?” Lena asked with her raven-black hair flawlessly framing her perfectly made-up pale face and with a grin on her ruby red lips as the sunglasses were tucked into the front of her t-shirt.

“Oh no that’s just not fair!” she blurted out and then blushed when the dreaded eyebrow of doom went up above her friend’s right eye.

“What isn’t fair?” the perfect-looking girl asked with the hint of a smile while pretending to be perplexed and took her arm to lead them towards the food court. She go fought back a gulp at being touched like that but didn't mention it.

“I look like a wet dog and you look like you walked off the set of a Vogue cover shoot!” she protested, but she was quickly finding out that she liked making Lena Luthor smile.

“You say the nicest things, but this is honestly just a routine drilled into me by mother at this point,” Lena told her and squeezed her arm. Breathe Zor-El! This is normal!

“Plus, you pull off the wet dog look admirably,” the girl then teased her, and she didn’t mind it at all. Friends teased each other, right?

“You’re lucky you’re cute Luthor,” she quipped back in a moment of bravery and allowed herself to be led towards the myriad and delicious smells of the food court. Though if Lena hadn't been hanging off her arm she might have sprinted there!

At the food court, she could see that Lena was very torn between the delicious smells of a Big Belly Burger stand and a boring looking Salad Station. Whoever had put these stupid ideas about food in the girl’s head deserved to be kicked into the sun she decided and firmly taking the pale girl’s hand she led her to the Big Belly Burger stand while giving her no chance to protest.

“Taking charge, are we?” Lena asked her with a twinkle in her eye and she only gave a firm nod as a reply.

“Well you can order for us as well then,” the green-eyed girl said softly in a moment that surprised her and she made sure the green-eyed puzzle of a woman she was quickly becoming good friends with got an extra-large fries with her burger and a large soda to wash it all down. Then she ordered two burgers for herself, with fries, soda, and a side of boneless chicken wings and the beast in her stomach was happily purring now. 

“My family owns this mall you know,” Lena said out of the blue once they had sat down at an out of the way table.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me, is there anything your family doesn’t own in this city?” she asked and took a long sip from the straw in her drink.

“Off the top of my head, the Daily Planet, StarLabs, nothing in the Suicide Slums, so I guess there are a few things we don’t own,” the pale girl listed off a few places and took a bite out of a fry.

“The Suicide Slums! That’s a horrible name!” she blurted out and the pale girl shrugged while wrapping her ruby red lips around the straw in her drink.

“It’s always been called that, ever since the 1930s and it’s not really that bad. It has some great clubs but it’s a rough part of the city for sure, mostly low-income housing and it’s where most of the alien population resides,” Lena explained and that got her thinking. 

“And… do you know all the great clubs in the city too?” she asked and that earned her an almost evil grin from the mischievous green-eyed girl. 

Asking about the clubs wasn’t really what she’d wanted to ask about, but it had been the normal thing to bring up. In reality, she had wanted to enquire about the aliens, the quietly growing population of travelers, refugees, and nomads from beyond the stars that had slowly been arriving on Earth over the past decade, but that she’d been taught to never bring up so not to draw attention to herself and her hidden Kryptonian heritage.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Lena teased her and took a bite out of her burger, so she had to wait for an answer as the teasing from the green-eyed girl quickly made her forget about the question she’d really wanted to ask.

“Hey, us farmgirls can dance… I think,” she protested somewhat weakly and felt a flush rising up into her cheeks.

“I’m sure you can, and no I don’t know all the great clubs, only the really good ones... because sometimes I need to blow off steam since my family can be a bit… rough,” Lena admitted showing signs of that sadness she’d sensed in the girl before and she wanted to push for more details but her instincts told her not to do that today.

“Hey, no moping today! This is supposed to be a fun shopping trip and I can’t believe I just said that! So, finish up your burger and then we can go play dress-up,” she urged the girl with a smile and that earned her a grateful smile in return.

“Dress-up?” the pale girl laughed and almost choked on her burger before getting her breathing under control.

“That’s what we’re doing right? I’m horrible at shopping and the last time I went with Eliza it turned into an afternoon-long dress-up session,” she explained and thought back to all the dresses her well-meaning adoptive mother had put her in that day.

“Eliza?” Lena asked and gave her a curious look as again she could see the girl’s sharp mind at work behind those green eyes.

“She’s my adoptive mother,” she explained and tried not to think too hard about that fact since it still hurt to say that. Because it made her as always think about Krypton’s destruction.

“And Ma Kent?” the green-eyed girl asked while carefully picking up her burger and biting into it.

“She’s my cousin Clark’s mom but everyone calls her Ma Kent,” she laughed, and she really did care deeply for both women, but they would never fully replace her mother Alura and she’d always felt like they didn’t quite understand her.

“That’s a lot of moms! But trust me I’m not like your mom at all, so think of it as a makeover, no wrong word, think of it as a mission to find out who you are wardrobe-wise,” Lena laughed again and put a hand on top of her hand to reassure her that this was going to be fun.

“Sorry… I’m bad at this sort of stuff,” she mumbled her apology and had to fight against the urge to pull her hand away. Even as she was starting to trust Lena and think of her as a friend she still didn’t like being touched.

“Stuff?” the pale girl asked with that adorable but intimidating raised eyebrow and gave her a pointed look across the piles of junk food between them.

“Girly stuff, dresses, lingerie, make-up, shopping, you name it, I’d be much happier digging a ditch at the farm,” she admitted and this was the first time she’d said any of this aloud and to a girl she’d known for less than two weeks.

“Don’t worry then because I’m not going to put you in girly stuff,” Lena reassured her, and that soft hand rubbed the back of hers.

“Why are you so nice to me?” she blurted out as some of those old insecurities kicked in again. Just like she’d asked Lois that same question but with Lena, it felt different. Still, she had to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t being pitied because Lena had no reason to do that. 

“You’re sweet, earnest, stupid strong, diligent, what’s there not to be nice about?” the green-eyed girl asked her back and she tried her hardest not to blush.

“Alright let’s get this dress-up... sorry wardrobe discovery on the road?” she asked because she couldn’t think of anything better to say after hearing all that.

“I’ll be gentle with you,” Lena promised and again she had to take a huge bite out of her Big Belly Burger so she wouldn’t say anything stupid.

Before she knew it, she was standing in a dressing room with Lena waiting not so patiently outside. The very knowledgeable girl had taken her to a store that was as upscale as the gym they’d been in earlier and now she was looking at her reflection. Smoothing down the black slacks she was trying on, she turned to the side and then back toward the mirror before she gave a loud hum as she pushed down her breasts with both hands.

“You don’t like it? Please tell me you like it,” Lena called out from the other side of the thin door between them and she pulled on the black shirt that was supposed to go with the suit she was trying on. 

Staring at herself, she was struggling to think and not to panic. The pants highlighted her long legs, but the cut was distinctly masculine, and the shirt hung open over her torso showing off her abs and the small swells of her breasts. 

“I’m not sure…” she said feeling outwardly unsure but inwardly she loved the suit that the green-eyed girl had picked out for her. But it was a brave choice, much braver than she felt like she was. 

“I need more than an I’m not sure! Speak woman and don’t make me come in there,” Lena threatened through the door and she buttoned up the shirt all the way before pulling on the jacket. The two-piece suit was everything she hadn’t known she wanted when it came to clothing and she had to admit that Lena had a great eye for this stuff. 

Be brave Zor-El, she thought to herself as she unbuttoned the top two buttons on the shirt before she took a deep breath and opened the door so that Lena could see her in the midnight-black suit. It was tailored in a sleek fitting European style, or so she’d been told, that really showed off her narrow waist and broad shoulders, but it didn’t quite match the beaten-up sneakers she had on her feet.

“Well, hello daddy!” the green-eyed girl declared with a huge grin which made her look around for the girl’s father like a total idiot.

“Where?” she asked while looking around like her head was on a swivel and then she tugged at the cuffs of her shirt while shuffling from one foot to the other.

“Oh, knock it off! You look amazing! Like, look at you!” Lena exclaimed and turned her around to face the mirror inside the dressing room or more like that she allowed the petite girl to turn her around.

“You really think so?” she asked and looked at her reflection with Lena standing next to her with a huge grin on her pale face.

“I think it’s some of my best work, but what do you think?” the green-eyed girl asked standing very close to her with one pale hand covered in rings resting lightly on her shoulder. Breathe Zor-El, breathe!

“I… like it…” she admitted, and the material was lightweight and breathable like Lena had promised and she felt for the first like she was that strong and beautiful person Lois had described her as before her first day at LexCorp.

“Got to show off those shoulders you know, and you won’t be single for long once I’m done with you,” Lena assured her and flicked some imaginary dust from the suit’s shoulders.

“Oh no, I’m not ready for anything like that, like at all!” she insisted and could see herself blushing in the mirror.

“You might not have a choice once the receptionists at LexCorp see you in this! But we need to get you some better shoes,” the pale-skinned girl laughed with her green eyes dancing with mirth.

“I do like both you know…” she muttered but even she wasn’t convincing herself right now in regard to her sexuality and that earned her a look of utter disbelieve from Lena.

“It’s sweet that you think that, but I don’t think any man could handle you Farmgirl! Though you are not a farmgirl in this suit, are you?” Lena asked and there again was that feeling of audible chocolate caused by the girl’s voice in her ears.

“No...” she muttered quietly and buttoned up the jacket and checked herself out from the side again. Straight lines were what she saw, and she liked it and then Lena did one of those things that shocked her to her core.

“Who are you?” the green-eyed girl whispered into her ear and stood next to her with that hard to read look on her pale face again. 

“Kara Z… Kara Danvers,” she declared before correcting herself, almost using her real name, her Kryptonian name because of how she felt right now.

“Well, Kara Z! We’re going out tonight!” Lena declared and got out her credit card with a huge grin on her face.

“Oh no, but I can’t… I mean I don’t know... how… and like I don’t drink... and can’t really dance and… you were just out clubbing last night…” she started making up excuses, but the green-eyed girl put a finger up in front of her face almost touching her lips.

“No ifs or buts about it, we’re buying you this suit, getting you some dancing shoes and then tonight I’m picking you up and taking you out dancing. This here, this can’t be wasted in the LexCorp basement and trust me I can go for way longer than two nights in a row,” the bossy girl told her firmly while motioning at the suit with her free hand and she found herself nodding while looking cross-eyed down at the finger hovering by her lips.

“Yes ma’am,” she mumbled, and that made Lena laugh again and Rao making this girl laugh gave her the weirdest feelings.

In the end, she bought the suit and shirt using the money she’d been given by Clark and Lois after a bit of haggling with Lena about how she couldn’t possibly accept something so expensive as a gift. Still, the bossy girl insisted and really gave her no choice but to let a portion of the Luthor fortune go toward buying the shoes to go with it, along with a belt and silver cufflinks, and finally, it was all bought using the Luthor family discount. Since, in the pale girl’s own words, the Luthor fortune wasn’t going to spend itself!

Despite Lena, and Lois and Clark being so very nice and generous to her, she was already calculating in her head how she could pay all of them back as soon as she could. 

A little while later while carrying her gym bag and her myriad shopping bags as they emerged out of the shoe store, she again felt Lena holding onto her arm and she looked down at the shorter girl and smiled. Lena was touching her and it felt good, this felt very good and she was definitely sure that this was friendship now.

“Where to next?” she asked and looked around the mall, but Lena had frozen in place with her green eyes now wide with panic and she felt manicured nails digging into her arm through her baggy sweater.

“Lena, what’s wrong?” she asked and followed the girl’s line of sight towards a group of smartly dressed people with a tall, bald, and grinning man leading the pack.

“It’s Lex and mother,” the girl whispered but it was more of a squeak and giving in to temptation she used her telescopic-vision to get a closer look at the pair even as Lena dragged her into a nearby store in what amounted to a blind panic.

Lex Luthor, who had the same green eyes as Lena, was laughing and grinning as he schmoozed with what she assumed were foreign investors while wearing the very definition of a businessman’s power suit. All black pinstripes and polished shoes while clean-shaven and proudly bald. Lena’s brother, was the total opposite of the petite girl since he was as tall as she was, and she could tell by the way he moved that the man was in great physical condition. 

“If it’s because of me I can go,” she whispered as Lena picked up a random item of clothing and kept dragging her towards the dressing rooms in the store that they’d taken refuge inside. It wouldn’t be, after all, the first time a pretty girl’s parents disapproved of her being their daughter’s friend.

“It’s not you... mother thinks I’m still recovering from last night at home,” the green-eyed girl explained on the verge of hyperventilating. 

Taking another peek at the group before Lena pulled the dressing room curtain closed, she could see Lillian Luthor looking haughty but proud of her son while wearing what could best be described as a severe black dress.

“Lena... were you supposed to be with them today?” she asked while keeping her voice down when the curtain pulled closed, and they were stuffed into the dressing room together with her small mountain of bags. 

“Maybe… but I didn’t think they’d bring them here!” the green-eyed girl declared and peeked through the curtain of the dressing room before hurriedly pulling it closed again.

Again, she wondered just what kind of a relationship Lena had with her mother because it didn’t sound like a good one, but seeing that the girl was beside herself with worry and downright scared she knew she had to do something. 

“Okay, we need to get you out of here and back home then,” she declared and peeked out of the dressing room while Lena held onto her arm for dear life.

“Careful!” the green-eyed girl hissed but seeing that the coast was clear she guided the girl towards the back of the store.

“Excuse me, miss,” she said to the young woman working there and flashed her a beaming smile that she hoped would have the same weird effect as it had on the receptionist at LexCorp the other day. This was admittedly the first time she tried this tactic and she steeled herself while standing up a bit taller.

“Yes?” the red-headed girl that was folding clothes asked while returning her smile and she turned the politeness up to ten while lying her butt off for Lena’s sake.

“Is there a way out we can use? My friend... well she just spotted her ex out there and he’s kind of a dick and we so don’t need any of that drama today, please?” she lied without blinking and motioned to Lena who still clung to her arm like a scared child. All her fears momentarily forgotten.

The red-head looked between them and then glanced around the shop. Deciding that the woman needed a bit more convincing she put her hand on the woman’s shoulder and lowered her voice a bit.

“It would really help my friend… and me,” she said while making sure to speak from deep inside her chest and that seemed to do it. The woman smiled, ushered them to the back and out the store’s loading bay doors into the parking lot behind the mall.

“Where is your car or did you take the bus?” she asked as she looked around the parking lot trying to get her bearings as the bright afternoon sunshine almost blinded them.

“Uber, I took an Uber,” Lena answered while seeming a bit calmer now, but the girl’s breathing was still shallow and panicked.

“Well, order one now and I’ll make my own way home,” she ordered the girl and that earned her a strange look from Lena Luthor who clearly wasn’t used to being ordered to do anything by anyone.

“Yes ma’am,” the green-eyed girl declared getting out her phone while chewing on her bottom lip so hard that she worried it might start to bleed.

“Hey, look at me! It’s going to be okay, they didn’t see us,” she reassured the green-eyed girl and put her hands on Lena’s petite and still shaking shoulders.

“You don’t know that, my mother has ways… but thank you for what you did back there,” Lena muttered while tapping away at her phone but flashed her a grateful smile.

“Anytime,” she simply nodded and felt very cocky right then as she puffed out her chest for some reason.

“You were literally my hero back there you know,” the green-eyed girl declared and that made her stand up a bit taller as well. Getting praised by Lena Luthor felt good she decided with a goofy grin.

“You’re going to make me blush,” she blurted out, but she could already hear the approaching Uber from about a block away.

“You mean like you made that girl blush back at the store doing that thing you did with your voice, Kara Z?” Lena teased her by making her own voice a bit deeper and huskier.

“I… that wasn’t… I mean…” she stammered and started scratching the back of her neck nervously at the latest nickname she was being given.

“Kara, relax, it was sweet that you’d do that for me and I will find a way to make it up to you, I promise,” the green-eyed girl told her, then got up on her toes and gave her a kiss on the cheek that made her skin tingle as the Uber pulled up.

“Uh sure!” she blurted out as Lena nodded at her and sauntered over to the waiting car with a huge grin on her red lips.

“I’ll see you tonight,” the green-eyed girl declared, and then she did something silly as she rushed forward and held the car’s door open for the mischievous Luthor girl.

“What about your mom?” she asked, and the now cocky as usual girl gave a shrug before slipping into the backseat of the car with a smirk.

“Let me worry about that, you just be ready at around nine tonight and I’ll take care of the rest since I'm in your debt,” Lena declared and pulled the door closed. The pale girl waved goodbye at her through the window as she dumbly waved back but the green-eyed girl was already on her phone and texting someone.

Once the car was out of sight, she touched her cheek, shook her head, and looked around to make sure she was by herself. Then she did a happy little dance right there in the parking lot with her arms flailing above her head and gave a cheer. She was somebody’s hero and that felt amazing! Now how the heck was she going to get home in time and get ready for tonight? Furthermore, was Kara Z, the savior of rich damsels and polite flirter, maybe who she wanted to be? Only one way to find out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this chapter was the worth the wait for you guys since I'm trying to put more effort into things these days to tell a hopefully more in-depth story of Kara's journey.
> 
> And yes I'm using comic book Lex here because well you'll see :)


	4. Farmgirl’s Big Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara suits up for her night out on the town with Lena but trouble is never far behind it would seem and Kara's aspirations to be Kara Z come to a crashing halt.

Kara was sweating again, but as usual, it was down to her nerves and not because of any outside factors. Kryptonians, after all, didn’t really suffer any ill-effects from heat or cold while under a yellow sun, though she seemed to suffer from them for a variety of other reasons. Pacing back and forth in her bedroom she fiddled with her silver cufflinks, checked on the tight bun she had put her hair up in for the night, and wondered why she’d agreed to any of this. 

A part of her hoped that Lena wouldn’t come that night, meanwhile, a part of her had made her put on the black tailored suit and pace around by the window waiting for the call from the green-eyed girl to come. Going out clubbing wasn’t a big deal, it was what friends did, right?

Being well aware of the fact that she hadn’t told Clark or Lois that she was going out, she reasoned with her conscience that it was mostly because she didn’t want to be subjected to the Talk again and nervously, she looked at her phone. Still no new messages from Lena since seeing the green-eyed girl off in the Uber earlier that same day.

Their outing at the mall had been a much more pleasant experience than she’d ever could have hoped for and she’d learned a bit more about Lena as well, but not all of it was good. What was the story with the pale-skinned girl’s relationship with her mother she wondered? When they’d seen the woman at the mall Lena had become terrified beyond reason and she’d been forced to take it upon herself to get them out of there in a hurry. 

Briefly, her mind flashed back to how she’d used her charms, that’s what Alex had called them, to get the red-headed girl at the store to help them escape out the backdoor. The girl had been cute too, and she wondered if she should be polite and go back to the mall just to say hello and thank you. Shaking her head she decided against it since it had taken all of her willpower not to bolt for the hills when Lena had touched her today and even that was with her trusting the pale-skinned girl not to judge her for her body.

When her phone finally vibrated, she almost dropped it on her toe and her eyes went wide seeing the message from Lena even though it wasn’t anything scandalous. _Waiting downstairs Farmgirl so come bring Kara Z out to play_ , followed by a winky face and she poked her head out the window. Cheating a bit with her vision powers she saw the pale-skinned girl wearing a purple dress waiting outside an Uber down at street level.

“You can do this,” she said to herself and half climbed out the window onto the fire-escape before stopping and climbing back in.

“No, nope, no, nope I can’t do this,” she muttered in a panic and got ready to text back to Lena that she was bailing on their night out.

Catching her own reflection on the phone’s screen she saw that she was being the world’s biggest scaredy-cat and putting the phone in her jacket with a resolved expression on her face, she climbed out the window and down the fire-escape. Jumping the last few feet to the ground she landed in a crouched pose before rising up and pulling on the lapels of her suit’s jacket. Acting way cockier than she actually felt.

“Oh, nice superhero landing Farmgirl!” Lena laughed and now face to face with the green-eyed girl she could see that Lena was wearing a very short purple dress with thigh-high black socks and matching heeled boots on. Like with everything else she wore the girl pulled it off flawlessly. 

“Thanks, but I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said and fixed the cuffs of her shirt before buttoning up her jacket.

“Well, believe it and you’re going to clean up tonight! Ready to get laid?” the green-eyed girl declared and grinned wickedly up at her. This was new, she thought despite her rising panic.

“No, no, no, dancing is a big enough step for one night!” she protested as she panicked which only made Lena laugh harder, but she was finding out that she loved that laugh because it wasn’t mean or cruel but rather sweet and adorable. 

“We can dance, oh we can dance,” Lena laughed and ushered her into the back of the waiting car.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she whispered again as the car lurched forward and she watched Lena take a sip from a silver flask which had materialized from a small clutch before offering it to her, but she shook her head.

“Well believe it Farmgirl, we’re going to have so much fun!” the green-eyed girl declared and took another swig from the flask. This was, admittedly, a new side of Lena she was seeing here tonight. 

“So… do you do this often? Going out I mean?” she asked as somehow, she couldn’t relax so she snatched the silver flask from Lena’s hand and took a long pour. The alcohol, even though it didn’t affect her, burned on the way down and soothed her worries a tiny bit.

“Every weekend if I can, but don’t tell mother,” Lena giggled and watched her making a face from the taste of the alcohol. There it was again, the mention of Lena’s mother who seemed to have some kind of a hold over the girl judging from the reaction she’d witnessed at the mall.

But the other changes she was witnessing in Lena tonight were something else to behold. All but gone was the smart and bossy girl she’d met at LexCorp and spent the day with at the mall. Replaced with a giggling and wild-eyed party-girl with her green eyes glistening and highlighted with purple eyeliner and with her dark red lips shimmering in the flickering and passing lights of the streetlamps as they drove past them. The short purple dress clung to the pale-skinned girl’s body and proudly displayed her curves and she not so secretly wished she had that kind of confidence.

“Hey, you’re doing it again Farmgirl!” the green-eyed girl chastised her with a grin while holding the silver flask to her dark red lips and she gave her a look of utter confusion.

“What?” she asked innocently and scratched the back of her neck. Had she been caught staring? Wait, had she been staring? Why would she be staring? 

“Looking at me like I’m someone special,” Lena laughed and took another long drink and she wondered what the hell she’d gotten herself into while opening and closing her mouth a few times trying to form a reply, but no words came out.

“I’m teasing you,” the green-eyed girl laughed even harder when she didn’t find her voice because she did think the girl was special, but this wasn’t the time or the place to admit that.

“Okay, but where are we going?” she asked and looked out the window as the buildings around them got shabbier and shabbier looking.

“That would be spoiling the surprise, but you’re going to love it! You can be whoever you want in this place,” Lena assured her, and that both made her excited and worried. What in Rao’s name have you gotten yourself into Zor-El? That annoying voice in the back of her head asked.

As they drove into a darkened part of the city where only a few streetlamps provided illumination she got really worried and started clenching her fists without realizing it. But Lena noticed and put a soft pale hand on top of her fist, at first, she tensed up but reminded herself that this was Lena, her friend.

“Relax Farmgirl, we’re almost there,” the green-eyed girl assured her, and right on cue, the car pulled up to the curb outside a neon-lit building.

“Where is here, exactly?” she asked and peered out the window at the green and purple neon sign flickering above their heads.

“The Kryptonite Club of course,” Lena laughed like it was the most obvious thing in the world and used her phone to tip their driver before slipping out of the car while pulling her along by the hand. 

“Isn’t that a bit… insensitive?” she asked and looked up the suspicious-looking building with a wary eye as she could hear the music throbbing as it emanated from within.

“You worry too much, you’ll love it, I promise,” the mischievous girl assured her again and squeezed her hand which compelled her to follow the pale girl inside.

A nod and a smile from Lena to the bouncer, a woman both wider and taller than herself, opened the door, and inside was like nothing she’d ever seen or experienced before in her life. Strobing lights and bodies packed in so tight that it gave her that claustrophobic feeling she hated. The loud primal music pounded at her eardrums and she had to close her eyes and take a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

“Hey, you okay?” Lena whispered into her ear with the girl’s soft voice somehow cutting through the noise and she gave a nervous nod as the green-eyed girl led her to the bar. Run away! Run away! That voice in her head that sounded like Alex told her, but she ignored it.

“What is this place?” she found herself yelling over the noise as Lena ordered something glowing and green for them in shot glasses by holding up two fingers to the bartender. The music kept making her ears hurt and the flashing lights kept momentarily blinding her. It was like being back in the ship her parents had sent her to Earth in. 

“Fewer questions, more drinking,” the green-eyed girl told her and handed her the shot glass with the ominous green glowing liquid in it which she accepted because not doing so would be impolite.

“Here is to you, Kara Z!” Lena then announced snapping her back from her memories and clinked their glasses together with a smile that was somehow a bit too big and she could see that the girl’s green eyes were wide and her pupils were dilated already. What the heck had been in that flask? 

You can do this, you can do this, she kept repeating to herself before downing the dubious-looking drink with a grimace she opened her eyes to see a laughing Lena. Then she froze because the girl’s pale hands were on her face pulling off her glasses with a grin. 

“You don’t really need these do you?” Lena asked and she mutely shook her head as her eyes adjusted to the slight shift in her vision from not having her glasses on.

“Good, because you look much more daddy without them,” the green-eyed girl declared and folded the glasses up before pulling open her jacket and tucking them into the inside pocket.

Before she could ask what that even meant she was being handed another shot, and then another. They were then joined by a group of girls that seemed at least familiar with Lena, one of them a short girl with pink-hair in a tiny white dress seemed to take an immediate interest in her and she politely answered her questions over the din of the music.

It was all starting to blur and the next thing she knew she was allowing herself to be dragged to the dancefloor. She tried not to think about all the people pressing in on her, tried to block out the loud noises and the smells but it wasn’t easy. It was in fact downright impossible as her powers kept flaring up like she had no control over them.

This was too soon, this was too fast, she thought as she and Lena danced together and a respectable distance but then someone different was dancing with her. It wasn’t Lena, but instead, it was that smiling pink-haired girl in the tiny white dress, and the nice smelling girl was touching her arms. No, no, no! Where was Lena?

Looking around for Lena she spotted the pale-skinned girl dancing between a man and a woman with her arms in the air and drinking at an alarming pace while whooping for joy. The pink-haired girl that she’d found herself dancing with pressed against her and she could feel groping hands going under her jacket. No! The touching made her tense up and flex her muscles involuntarily which sent the wrong message. 

“You’re like… so strong,” the pink-haired girl whispered into her ear with her hands on her chest, but her voice didn’t have the same effect on her as Lena’s voice sometimes did though she didn’t have the chance to dwell on that revelation. Instead, it scared the life out of her, and then the girl kissed her ear. 

“I wonder what else you’re hiding under this suit… daddy,” the pink-haired girl purred into her ear and she felt the girl’s hands in her hair and cherry and alcohol tasting lips against hers but she didn’t return the kiss. This was not how she'd envisioned her first kiss at all. Too soon, with the wrong girl, head spinning, senses flaring and the girl was touching her, it felt nice but also made her shiver. 

Finally, her courage broke and she ran. Barreling through the club, pushing people out of her way she didn’t stop until she burst into the alley behind the club where she promptly threw-up the glowing green liquid she’d been drinking behind a dumpster.

“Rao!” she cursed loudly and spat up the last of the vomit before wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket.

“What were you thinking Zor-El,” she chastised herself as an orange alley-cat gave her a curious meow before she wandered out of the alley deciding that she needed some fresh air and realizing she had no idea where in the city she even was.

Pulling out her beat-up old phone she found the battery dead and sighed at her typical crappy luck. Wandering the half-deserted streets, she wondered what had come over Lena tonight. The usually cool, collected, and smart girl had turned into someone totally different once she’d started drinking and when they’d hit the dancefloor the green-eyed girl had ditched her, or that’s what it had felt like. But she did want to give the girl the benefit of the doubt since she’d been the one that ran away from the club in a blind panic.

This had been a stupid idea though, the suit, the agreeing to go out with Lena, not telling Clark and Lois that she was going out, it had all been stupid. Pulling her glasses out of the inside pocket of her jacket she put them back on. Maybe this was who she was meant to be, Kara Danvers, a regular girl from Midvale. 

While wandering somewhat aimlessly she found herself walking past graffiti that read, Superman doesn’t come here, as she looked around at the dilapidated buildings lining both sides of the street and realized that this must be the Suicide Slums that Lena had told her about at the food court. The slums of Metropolis, home to the downtrodden and the alien alike. Aliens like her.

Her doubts were not giving her a break tonight, however, as she thought about how stupid she’d been to think she could keep up with Lena like this when she couldn’t even dance with one girl, though who the girl had or rather hadn’t been having been a factor. Shaking her head, she walked in what her ears told her was the direction of home. Once she got there, she decided that she was going to put this suit back in the garment bag it had come in and return it. No that would be giving up, but everything just felt very difficult to her right then.

A loud crash interrupted her private pity party though and a loud scream for help rang in her ears as she rushed towards the sound without a second thought. In another darkened alley she could see the backs of three thuggish looking young men standing over a girl who was huddling by a dumpster at the far end of the alley screaming for help.

“Hey, leave her alone!” she shouted at them with her voice cracking as she let the timbre of her voice drop to a low rumble while pulling off her glasses. 

The shout caused them to turn around and she saw a knife, a gun, and a crowbar, being pointed at her but she didn’t want to hurt them. Holding up her hands she tried the way of her mother Alura first. The way of diplomacy and reason. 

“You don’t want to do this,” she spoke slowly but firmly stepping into the alley with her hands raised and palms facing outward

“Oh I think we do,” one of them snarled at her and she could smell the cheap alcohol on their breaths from where she stood while her eyes darted behind them to check on the girl who was frozen with fright.

“No you really don’t,” she said with her voice no longer cracking and took another step forward as she remembered what her aunt Astra had taught her, about what weak points to hit when diplomacy and reason failed. Knees, groin, windpipe, she listed the spots she could strike at in her mind.

“Oh, it looks like this uptight college boy wants to play a hero,” another one of them laughed and that gave her a pause. It did make sense, her hair was up in a bun, the dimly lit alley hid her features and the suit did the rest, but she wasn’t a boy.

They lunged at her, but she just stood her ground as the crowbar connected with the side of her arm, but the impact didn’t even make her flinch. Reaching out faster than they could see, she grabbed the boy by the wrist and flipped him over onto his back with utter disdain. Up close she could see that they were just kids her own age playing at being tough guys.

“Again, you don’t want to do this,” she repeated as she stood her ground as the one with the knife tried to slash at her but she simply moved out of the way each time leaving a blur in her wake.

“What are you some kind of an alien!” he shouted to which she grinned at him before catching the blade in her hand and crushing it in her fist leaving an imprint of her fingers in the steel. Then she pulled him in close with her fist raised ready for a punch.

“Still want to do this?” she asked him in a low rumble as she felt her fist shaking with her barely contained strength.

“What are you waiting for! Shoot him!” the knife-wielding and now scared kid shouted and let go of the knife in an effort to try to run but she grabbed him by the front of his tattered leather jacket and lifted him up from the ground with ease.

“Now, I can put you down and you walk away or I can throw you into that dumpster, your choice,” she told him with her voice sounding stronger and more assured than it had ever done before.

“Shoot this alien freak!” he shouted in a blind panic and tried to kick at her while she gave the one with the gun a level look, almost daring him to do it. Kal sometimes could convince people to step down with just a look, so why not her as well.

But he didn’t stand down, the mussel of the gun flashed bright orange and the bullet flew towards her and her plan B had been to catch it or swat it from the air, but she wasn’t fast enough because right then the last person she wanted to see her like this joined the fray.

“KARA! Look out!” Lena shouted as she came running up behind her and that made her turn her head as she kept holding the kicking boy up with one hand.

The bullet hit her square in the shoulder, leaving a burn mark on the fabric of her suit but not penetrating it before bouncing off her and falling to the ground flattened. Kal had explained it to her once that while under Earth’s yellow sun their Kryptonian physiology gave them a sort of protective biotic aura that they projected around themselves and it was why his suit rarely got torn. But that explanation aside, what was more worrying, was that Lena had seen it all, her alienness, her anger, and her other-self. Panicking and feeling angry at being outed like this, she threw the boy she was holding into the one that had just shot her and started cursing loudly in Kryptonian.

“Rao! Why doesn’t anything ever go the freaking way it’s planned!” she cursed loudly and started stalking towards the now frightened boys with her jaw firmly set and her eyes narrowed. Clenching her fists, she felt like fighting and they did try to oblige her when a fist connected with her jaw but all that could be heard were the sounds of crushing bones in the boy’s hand.

“Come on! Is that the best you can do, humans!” she kept growling in Kryptonian and grabbed the mangled hand before hurling the wannabe thug into a nearby dumpster.

Next, a two-by-four piece of wood broke across her back and she felt the splinters raining all around her before she turned around and glared at the boy who had tried to strike her from behind like a coward. Letting out another string of choice Kryptonian curses as she raised her fist at them again with her nostrils flaring. Daring them to attack her!

With her cursing loudly and cocking her fist what courage the wannabe-thugs had left in them vanished and they fled, rushing and limping past her and Lena as she kept cursing her rotten luck, her ruined suit and how her life was now for all intended purposes over because Alex had been right. But before she could worry about that she had to make sure the girl she’d rescued was alright.

Walking up to the girl that was still huddled up against the dumpster, she knelt down to check on her, she didn’t look like she’d been hurt and mostly looked shocked at what she’d just seen. Giving her a reassuring smile, she held out her large and rough hand.

“Are you alright?” she asked with a small smile, and the girl looked at her hand before taking it. The poor girl was maybe in her teens she guessed, wearing clothes that looked like hand-me-downs and with messy unruly orange hair. The girl looked like she didn’t have an easy life and like she possibly had some alien heritage to her as well.

“Yeah… yes… I’m okay,” the girl she’d rescued stammered and looked around the alley and then at the burn mark on her suit.

“Do you need help getting home?” she asked keeping her voice level, but she could hear Lena walking up behind her with the pale-skinned girl’s heeled boots clicking on the ground.

“No it’s okay, it’s not far from here,” the girl she’d rescued assured her and she helped her stand up while being careful not to hurt the girl since unleashing her strength meant that getting it back under control wasn’t easy. 

“Are you sure?” she asked as the girl dusted herself off and gave her a grateful little smile which eased her worries a tiny bit.

“Yeah, it’s just across the street, don’t worry I’ll be fine... and don’t worry you’re not the first alien I meet so I know how to keep quiet,” the girl assured her and pointed to a building across the street from the alley.

“Go on then,” she said reluctantly and without turning her body around she watched the girl running past Lena and across the street as the green-eyed girl watched them with an unreadable expression on her face.

“Hey,” she grunted, for a lack of anything to say, at the pale-skinned girl who, judging from the smell of sweat and alcohol and the dilation of her pupils, was still very drunk.

“Uhh hey,” Lena said back and hugged herself as they stood in the alley, neither of them knowing what to say next. Lena had just witnessed her take on three men with ease and get shot. Thus, she didn’t blame her for being at a loss for words.

The fight. Rao, she’d hurt them! Broken their bones and tossed them around like they were nothing, what had she done! Looking down at her hands she struggled for what to tell Lena about what the green-eyed girl had just witnessed. In the end, she went with the truth even if it hurt to tell it.

“I’m an alien,” she said in a matter of fact tone of voice while keeping it in that same low timbre as she’d used before.

“I can see that,” the green-eyed girl replied but her voice was a bit slurred still and she knew even without looking that the brilliant mind behind those green eyes was hard at work trying to figure out what had just happened.

“Why did you come looking for me? You looked like you were having fun back at The Kryptonite Club,” she asked, with her back still turned to Lena as she brushed her finger over the burn mark on her jacket before looking at her hand again studying the gunpowder residue. The fact that she’d hurt another living being was eating away at her slowly. 

It wasn’t that she was angry at Lena but rather herself and absentmindedly she noted that the burn mark on the jacket’s shoulder meant that she wouldn’t be returning it after all. Turning around she was about to ask if they could just go home, but then Lena went and said something stupid. 

“Anna… the umm girl with the pink hair said you ran away, I got worried,” the green-eyed girl admitted while still sounding both drunk and ashamed. 

“Anna, uh? I guess you do know everyone don’t you?” she replied, and it sounded harsher than she’d meant it to be. But she was too overwhelmed by everything that had just happened and her mind wouldn’t stop reminding her that she’d just outed herself as an alien, hurt people, been unable to even dance with a girl because of her stupid insecurities and she felt like throwing up again.

“Well… I told her to go easy on you... you know since it was your first time,” Lena mumbled, and those few words made her blood boil over with rage she had never felt before. It was really the last straw with everything else going on in her mind.

Pity, Lena had set her up with a girl out of pity like she wasn’t good enough or brave enough to find someone on her own! Pity, shame, the failure of trying to be this Kara Z, then these idiots she’d just fought calling her a boy! It all caused the carefully crafted act she’d been forced to put on for the past six years to crack. Most importantly she’d told Lena she wasn’t ready for anything remotely like that yet!

“You did what!?” she roared, losing control of her voice and the windows facing the alley shook as the blast wave caused by her roar almost knocked Lena over.

“I thought you wanted to have some fun!” the green-eyed girl shouted back at her with those green eyes now looking furious and hurt or maybe Lena was just scared, why wouldn't she be after what she'd witnessed.

“I wanted to go out dancing with my friend! I did not want to be set up with some random pink-haired girl named Anna!” she shouted back even though she knew deep down that this was not the way to deal with this situation.

“I was trying to do a nice thing for you!” Lena roared back at her and that caused her eyes to flash red before she could get her heat-vision back under control. Distance, she needed distance between herself and this place and Lena before she burned something to the ground.

“You... people are all the same... telling me who I am... who I’m supposed to be with... what I’m supposed to do,” she muttered and stalked past a stunned Lena with her fists clenched.

“Kara…” Lena started to apologize and tried to touch her arm, but she was done with being polite for now and she gave the pale-skinned girl a tired look. This was all just too hard.

“Save it... I’m tired and I’ll see you on Monday... I assume you can find your way home like you always do,” she whispered in a defeated tone of voice and launched herself into the sky because she needed to get away from Lena and everything else in her life right then.

It wasn’t a flight, not really, it was more of a very long jump and she landed on the top of an apartment building a block or so away from the alley that she’d left Lena in. Pulling off her jacket she looked at the mark the bullet had left on the fabric and sighed. Another fledgling friendship down the drain great job Zor-El. 

Looking out over the darkened streets of the Suicide Slums she remembered that graffiti she’d seen earlier about how Superman didn’t come here. For a second, she thought about how maybe she could be the hero this part of Metropolis needed. But no, she wasn’t supposed to draw attention to herself, that annoying voice in her head reminded her while pointing out that she’d hurt those boys trying to be a hero. Feeling warm wetness running down her cheeks she wiped away the tears, but she wasn’t sure why she was crying and stood up. All she wanted to do was to go home, crawl into bed, and try to escape the turmoil that was her mind.

* * *

Sneaking back into her room was almost a success right up until Lois flicked the light switch on but thankfully she’d had the wherewithal to wash off most of the powder residue and burn mark on her suit before coming back to the apartment. Hopefully, Lois wouldn’t smell it though and she knew that she looked like something the barn-cat had dragged in regardless. But she was also too tired to even try and lie.

“Uh… hi!” she said weakly and waved at the reporter when she was caught about to close the window behind her.

“I’m not going to tell you off for going out since you’re nineteen, but you could have used the front door you know,” Lois told her with a smirk and with her arms crossed over her chest while dressed in blue pajamas.

“I know, I know,” she muttered and then sniffled a bit which was a mistake because Lois spotted it right away.

“Kara… did something happen?” the reporter asked and walked up to her while looking at her intently with those caring violet eyes.

“It was stupid,” she sniffled again and sat down heavily on the bed realizing she wasn’t even wearing her glasses, but she didn’t care.

“Did Lena…” Lois started asking as the reporter sat down next to her, but she shook her head and felt the tears running down her cheeks again.

“No, she didn’t try anything... she… she just did something stupid,” she mumbled and felt Lois put an arm around her comfortingly.

“You don’t have to tell me about it unless you want to,” the reporter told her gently and rubbed her back.

“There was this girl... actually kinda cute... she had pink hair,” she laughed while crying and thought back to her freak-out at the Kryptonite Club.

“But?” Lois asked and kept rubbing her back and she was almost too embarrassed to open up about what had happened.

“She started… touching me… telling me all these things she… liked about me… called me something... weird and then she kissed me, and it tasted like cherries,” she muttered while blushing bright red. 

“Oh, I see,” the reporter said but her voice was even and level with no hint of judgment to it.

“But then I freaked out... it was too loud, it was… all too much and then I found out that Lena had asked her to be… nice to me!” she admitted and by the end of it, she was wailing loudly.

The dam burst again, and her mind was engulfed by her fears. Fears of being touched because who could possibly like someone like her in that way. Fears of being abandoned and left alone. Fears of being different and not knowing who she was. Fears that she’d seriously hurt those boys in the alley while saving that girl. All she knew was that she wasn’t the girl her family wanted her to be, but she wasn’t a boy either like those wannabe thugs had thought. It all made her cry all the harder.

“Come here... it’s all going to be alright,” Lois whispered and pulled her in close while stroking her hair.

“I want something like that... but not like that... you know?” she asked weakly and looked up at the reporter who had always been so kind to her. And yes, a part of her yearned for that kind of companionship, but not that she’d ever admitted it before.

“You’ll find it, Kara, I promise you that one day you will find it,” the reporter told her softly and kept stroking her hair.

“Why… why would Lena do something like that?” she asked next because she couldn’t for the life of her understand why Lena would choose to take pity on her like that. 

After calling her a hero earlier that very same day she had truly thought she’d found a friend in the green-eyed girl. Lena had been so kind, and so understanding up until now but then after a few drinks the green-eyed girl had seemingly transformed into someone totally different. 

“I… I don’t know sunshine, but it was a very stupid thing of her to do,” Lois said and wiped the tears from her cheeks gently.

“Could you… just hold me for a little bit?” she asked, feeling very much like a little girl again and needing to be comforted.

“Of course,” Lois said and gently laid them both down on the bed while still stroking her hair. Feeling tired she closed her eyes and the comfort Lois was giving her did chase some of the fears away. 

“I’m scared,” she admitted as Lois kept soothing her with gentle strokes of her hair and humming a gentle lullaby. 

“It’s alright to be scared sunshine, everyone gets scared,” the reporter told her soothingly and before she knew it, she was drifting off to sleep.

“Thank you…. mom,” she mumbled somewhere in between being awake and asleep and she could faintly hear Lois choke back a sob.

“Just rest now sunshine, it will all be better tomorrow,” the reporter told her, and with a weak nod of her heavy head she drifted off to sleep. But tomorrow didn’t make it better.

In her dreams, she was running away from something through the halls of the LexCorp building's sub-basement. Whatever it was it was laughing at her and mocking her for how she looked and how she dressed and what a stupid girl she was for dressing like a boy. Part of her wanted to turn and face it, but she was too afraid, so she kept running until she was falling. 

When she landed on the cold ground and stood up, she saw the boys she’d fought with back in the alley, but they were mangled and burned corpses and she tried to scream but her mouth wouldn’t obey. Looking down at her fists covered in blood she looked up and saw Lena motioning for her to follow and after a few steps, she was back in the Kryptonite Club again.

Everyone was touching her, pulling at her, calling her things which she didn’t understand the meaning of, and then she was alone with Lena in what looked like her bedroom back at the Kent farm. The green-eyed girl was looking at her with fear and horror in her eyes and looking down she saw that she was naked. Then Lena screamed and ran. 

Waking up with a startled shout she was drenched in sweat yet again and the morning sun was streaming in through her window. Looking around she saw that Lois was gone but that her suit was hung up on the door of her closet. Achingly she stretched and touched the spot where the bullet had struck her the night before.

“Rao what a mess,” she mumbled in Kryptonian and rolled out of her bed in her baggy boxers and old top. Picking up her still dead phone she debated plugging it in but didn’t want to risk it in case Lena was trying to reach out to her since the nightmare still haunted her.

She was still upset at the green-eyed girl for what she had done even after telling her to be her own person no matter what. It didn't change the fact that had the spoiled rich girl had set her up with someone without asking her and she hated being treated with pity like that. The reasonable part of her being was reminding her that maybe Lena had honestly thought she was doing a nice thing while that angry voice deep inside of her shouted that nobody ever listened to her and that this was another example of that. No matter what the previous night had been a total disaster and by extension, this summer was also turning into a disaster.

This summer had been supposed to be her brave new start. Where she was going to find her brave new self, but like everything else she had ever tried, she’d failed at it. Like she’d failed to arrive on Earth in time to be there for Kal. Like she’d failed to convince Eliza to let her try out for the football team. Like she’d failed to be friends with Lena. Failed to be normal for one night and just dance with that pink-haired girl. Worst of all she’d failed to hold back during the fight in the alley and she’d hurt people.

It was like that every time she’d tried to be who she thought she wanted to be she failed. So why fight so hard for it, she wasn’t special and nobody, not even Lena, seemed to fully accept her who she wanted to be. Once again she found herself in front of the mirror but the face looking back at her in the mirror looked like the face of a stranger. Bloodshot and puffy eyes, messy hair up in a bun, and wearing her baggy comfortable boxers and worn top. Being who she thought she wanted to be had also caused her to expose her alienness to Lena and to hurt those boys. Both were things she couldn’t stop thinking about and she had no idea if the green-eyed girl would even keep her mouth shut. 

Wanting to heat-vision blast the mirror she stalked over to the closet and grabbed the suit she’d bought with Lena. Bundling it up into a ball, she hurled it into the closet and slammed the door shut rattling the entire room. Then rummaging through her drawers, she found that damned blue dress that Eliza and Ma Kent had told her to wear, along with an unused and still in the package white bra and panties set. Stripping out of her comfortable boxers and tank top she put it all on even though it made her sick to her stomach. The bra hurt her chest and made it hard to breathe, the panties felt too tight and restrictive and the dress left her feeling exposed and vulnerable. 

After putting her glasses back on, she grabbed her seldom-used hairbrush and brushed out her unruly mane of blonde hair from the bun it had been in until it was straight and proper. It was time to go back to being Kara Danvers, a regular girl from Midvale, and not whatever that thing she had tried to be last night and hope that nobody would notice her ever again. Kara Danvers didn't get felt up at clubs, Kara Danvers didn't get into fights that resulted in broken bones and Kara Danvers wasn't noticed.

Feeling something akin to a lead ball settling in her stomach she dropped the hairbrush to the floor and stared at her reflection for the longest time. The blue dress was very pretty, yes, but it wasn’t who she was, but she couldn’t be that person, not if it meant people taking pity on her like the night before or being exposed as an alien. Not if it meant endless failures while trying to achieve something impossible or hurting people like she’d done when fighting those misguided boys. This was the safe route to take.

Smiling her sunniest smile at her reflection she felt her cheeks hurting but this was the right way to go. Wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm sorry for hurting the alien puppy and making the confused baby doubt herself like this, but trust me it will be worth it in the end :)


	5. Regular Old Kara Danvers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara struggles with being a 'normal' girl as she tries to avoid Lena while back on the job at LexCorp, but overheard conversations lead to Kara making a course change and an encounter with a certain co-worker gives her a much-needed boost to her fragile-ego.

Putting on her best smile, so much that her cheeks hurt, Kara walked into the now more imposing than ever LexCorp building on a Monday morning and adjusted her blue dress and the matching cardigan she had on over it to cover her arms. Smiling at the receptionist who just ignored her, she stepped into the elevator and took it down to the storage room in the sub-basement ready for another day of filing and data entry.

A few of the other interns were in the elevator with her that morning and she smiled shyly at them and for the first time, they actually smiled back. That made the decision to change up the way she looked a bit easier to swallow because at least people were nice to her now. Stepping out of the elevator she wished them a good day and walked up to the door marked number forty-two.

Pushing the door open she fought back a sigh, a part of her had hoped to find Lena waiting for her there, dressed in some outrageous outfit, to apologize for what had happened the other night but of course the green-eyed girl wasn’t there. Instead, it was as always just her and the endless shelves covered in filing boxes. Pulling a box out of a shelf, she slammed it down on the desk with a bit too much force and got to work.

The morning went by slowly and when she went up to the cafeteria for lunch, she did look for Lena, but the pale-skinned girl was nowhere to be seen. Instead of her usual meal of burgers and fries, she picked up a salad and some water. To her surprise, a group of female interns waved her over and she again gave a shy smile before she sat down with them. Absentmindedly listening to them gossiping she again reminded herself that this was how things were supposed to be and how like this nobody would notice her.

“Kiera, that’s such a pretty dress on you,” one of them, a girl whose name she couldn’t remember, praised her and she tucked nervously at the sleeve of the cardigan that hid her arms and just smiled.

“Thank you,” she muttered and got very interested in her salad while hoping they’d go back to ignoring her again. Which they did. 

It wasn’t until she was heading back down to her dungeon that she spotted Lena. The pale-skinned girl was coming towards her as she waited by the elevators. She didn’t want to notice, but she couldn’t help but to notice that the pale-skinned girl was wearing a pair of painted-on blue jeans and a black turtleneck with rimless glasses on her nose while looking like a punky Steve Jobs and with her raven-black hair up in a tight bun. As always, the girl’s lips were a dangerous shade of red but there was no smirk on them today.

Panicking she pushed the button a few times in rapid succession hoping to speed up the elevator, but Lena kept coming closer like a shark cutting through water. That was how she found herself awkwardly standing in the elevator next to the girl she’d yelled at, no correction roared at, in that alley in the Suicide Slums. A girl she had thought of as a friend and in some way still did. So, she was torn between both wanting to give Lena another piece of her mind and asking her how she’d been, but she pushed both those ideas down as hard as she could. Reminding herself that Kara Danvers was a quiet girl and hoped that Lena had forgotten about what she’d seen in that alley.

With her rotten luck once again rearing its ugly head the elevator didn’t move down as she’d hoped, instead it started to rise up, and the LexCorp Tower was a hundred and three stories high. That was a long time to be trapped with Lena freaking Luthor. The girl that had not only seen her at her absolute worst and been partly to blame for that situation but also now knew that she was an alien. 

“Nice dress,” Lena commented in a low voice without looking at her and instead, she kept her green-eyes looking straight ahead.

“Excuse me?” she whispered back quietly without thinking when her mind flashed back to the Kryptonite Club on that Saturday night and to the pink-haired girl that Lena had tried to set her up with without her knowledge or consent.

“Nothing,” the green-eyed girl mumbled, and they remained silent as the elevator rose ever higher up the building.

“Kara, I’m…” Lena tried to speak when the elevator-doors opened but couldn’t get to finish because as the doors opened fully in front of them stood Lillian Luthor in another severe black dress with a frown on her face.

“Lena, my office, now,” the Luthor matriarch ordered Lena and she could feel the fear radiating off the pale-skinned girl in waves.

With a nod Lena stepped out of the elevator as Lillian Luthor gave her a frosty look and she felt herself wilting away underneath it. The woman was scary like she’d rather be back in her tiny spaceship rocketing away from Krypton than face this woman’s gaze scary. 

“Don’t you have somewhere to be, intern?” Lena’s mother asked her icily and she gave a panicked nod and pushed a random button which only caused the elevator to close as Lena gave her a pleading look. The girl was asking, no begging, to be saved, but she couldn’t, that’s not who she was anymore.

With the elevator going down she felt her heart pounding, she had to help Lena, seeing the poor girl again looking scared out of her mind triggered something inside of her and when the doors opened she pushed the button for the top floor again. The doors opened and she knew that she wasn’t supposed to be on this floor but that urge to do right was driving her forward.

Extending her hearing she tried to act like she belonged on the hundredth and second floor and smoothed down the front of her dress before straightening her cardigan. Finding Lena’s voice through the clutter of other voices on the floor she strained to listen in on the conversation between the green-eyed girl and her ice-queen of a mother. Even though she was still mad at the girl she felt this strong urge to defend her that she couldn’t quite explain. No, you don’t do that anymore Kara, she reminded herself.

“...and what on Earth are you wearing?” Lillian Luthor asked in an icy voice dripping with disdain and she could picture the wide and scared green eyes of Lena.

“Jeans and a turtleneck,” Lena’s voice was shaking and had none of its usual confidence to it either.

“Well go home and change it immediately it shows off your much too wide hips,” the woman that she immediately hated instructed Lena and she clenched her fist.

“I… yes mother,” Lena’s voice was flat and defeated and she had to consciously unclench her fist so not to draw attention to herself as she loitered by the elevators while pretending to look for something.

“And don’t go around the office looking at girls like that as well,” Lillian Luthor said, and she clenched her fist again. Hold on, Lena looked at girls? What girls?

“I... don’t...” Lena tried to protest but was cut off with an almost snake-like hiss from her mother. Every muscle in her body tensed up at the sound of that dreadful hiss and it took all of her willpower not to burst through the walls to yell at the woman to leave Lena alone. 

“Now, I don’t care what you do while you are out slumming it with those degenerates in the Suicide Slums on the weekends, but within these walls, you’re Lena Luthor, do you understand?” Lillian Luthor asked from between what sounded like clenched teeth.

“Yes mother,” Lena’s voice sounded so small that she had half a mind to not only burst in and yell at the evil woman but also to carry the green-eyed girl away to safety. You’re mad at her, remember Zor-El, the voice in her head reminded her. 

A random secretary passed her by, and she tried to make herself as small and invisible as possible, no small feat for someone as tall as she was. Knowing that she could be busted at any moment she stood her ground though. Some part of her wanted to make sure Lena would be alright and that other part of her which she had tried to cage up was screaming at her to do something!

“Will that be all mother?” she could hear Lena’s voice asking and again she clenched her fists tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. Something about hearing Lena being so submissive and so broken angered her on a deeply personal level and she couldn’t explain why it did so.

Yes, a part of her was still very mad at Lena Luthor for the stunt the girl had pulled the other night and she still wasn’t ready to even think about talking to the pale girl face to face, but nobody deserved to be treated like that by their own mother.

“That will be all,” Lillian dismissed her daughter and she suddenly remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be on this floor. 

Panicking she looked around and dived through the nearest door which turned out to lead into the floor’s janitor’s closet where she ended up with her foot in a bucket and a mop in her face, but she waited there while holding her breath as she could hear Lena walking past the door. 

“...Sam… I know it’s been a while, but can we meet up for an early lunch, please?” she could hear the green-eyed girl talking on her phone before she entered the elevator and went out of the range of her hearing. 

Who was Sam? For a second, she felt something akin to jealousy before she reminded herself that she was still mad at Lena Luthor, but that exchange had made the girl sound so pitiful that it made her heart ache.

Once the coast was clear she managed to get back onto the elevator without being spotted and rode it back down to her dungeon in the sub-basement. Not that she did much work, instead she kept pulling at the fabric of the stupid dress she’d put on. This was a freaking mess, all of it, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the things she’d promised herself not to dwell on.

Lena had needed to be saved from her mother just like that teenage girl in the alley the other night had needed to be saved from those boys. But she wasn’t supposed to go around saving people, she was supposed to wear pretty dresses and go study journalism because that’s what they all wanted from her except for maybe Lois.

Then the walls of the office started closing in on her and this hadn’t happened to her in a long time. Usually, she had her claustrophobia under control but today was different and she knew it. Closing her eyes, she tried to calm her breathing, and again it felt like the bra she had on was suffocating her somehow. Without any other recourse, she prayed to Rao for guidance.

“In Rao’s light I find peace, in Rao’s light I’m made whole, his flame guides me and strengthens me and in his light I find peace,” she recited a short prayer in Kryptonian while focusing on her breathing and that helped a little bit

Opening her eyes again she saw that the room was back to its normal size, but she was still in that damn blue dress and she hated it. In fact, it made her angry that she’d even put it on in the first place and how she’d not been able to rescue Lena from her mother didn’t help either. You could have knocked on the door Zor-El, made something up, and gotten her out of there but you didn’t! 

The room started shrinking again as memories of her nightmare where Lena had run away from her in fear bubbled to the surface. Hiding behind the facade of Kara Danvers wasn’t working and she knew it. It wasn’t who she was. 

“In Rao’s light I find peace, in Rao’s light I’m made whole, his flame guides me and strengthens me and in his light I find peace,” she recited the prayer again but this time it didn’t help as she shot up and started pacing around the room like a caged animal.

Zor-El wouldn’t have backed down from that witch of a woman, the voice in her head that was always braver than she felt went on and she couldn’t make it stop. 

“Stop it...” she begged quietly as that part of her that wanted to be normal and accepted, fought back, but that wasn’t who she was. No matter what how many dresses she put on.

Kara Danvers was a pretty lie, a smiling act she put on because her family had in their misguided but well-intentioned way wanted her to have an easy life on Earth. Free from worries and pain, but it hadn’t worked out like that. Sure, being included by the other interns if only for a day had felt nice but being unable to help Lena had made her feel weak and she wasn’t weak. She was Kara Zor-El, the Last Daughter of Krypton.

Thinking about the women in her life and how they faced their failures and how they fought their fears gave her strength. Her mother had never once shown fear even as Krypton’s doom was near. Astra had never flinched in battle or in her convictions. Ma Kent had taught her that you can defeat anything with kindness. Eliza despite their disagreements had taught her that you have to analyze and overcome your problems not run from them. Lois had told her that she was strong and to forge her own path and Alex, well if her sister was here right now, she would tell her to bitch up and stop crying. 

Drawing on the strength of the women that had raised her she felt something akin to power once again coursing through her veins. Deep down she knew that as the Last Daughter of Krypton she had to be strong because within her a thousand generations of her people lived on and if she couldn’t be true to herself she couldn’t be true to their legacy.

“Thank you,” she whispered while raising her head to the ceiling and smiled. In a way, Rao had answered her prayer or perhaps she’d just figured it out herself, but she felt a dreadful weight being lifted from her shoulders. 

Though no closer to an answer for the lingering question about who she truly wanted to be, she knew it wasn’t Kara Danvers who wore pretty dresses or Kara Z that put on stylish suits. No, if she were ever to have peace of mind and happiness, she needed to find out who she really was. Figuring that out started with being a hero that didn’t cower in the face of her fears and failures. Alura would have told her to rise up and face them and Astra would have told her to stop being such a weak-willed Daxamite and fight! 

“Lena!” she blurted out before rushing out of the room as she bolted for the elevator. She had an idea! It was a crazy idea, but it was better than nothing. Riding the elevator up to the lobby she took the time and reached clumsily under her dress. Fumbling around for a few seconds she pulled off that freaking bra with a happy sigh. That was better and now she could breathe again!

When the elevator doors opened onto the lobby and she realized she was holding the accursed bra like a trophy she quickly hid it behind her back. Then upon spotting Lena she hid the best she could behind a nearby advertisement billboard touting the good work of LexCorp around the world. The pale-skinned girl was talking to an admittedly very attractive woman with long brown hair who looked a few years older than the green-eyed girl and who was accompanied by a girl of maybe six or seven years of age. Was this Sam and who was that kid? 

Watching from her not so perfect hiding place she saw as Lena knelt down and gave the little girl a hug which again did something to her insides she couldn’t quite put a name to, but this was yet another side to what was proving to be a very complex girl. Now, despite her little eavesdropping earlier, she wasn’t one to listen in on other people’s conversations, but her hearing extended almost as if on its own accord to pick up snippets from the conversation between Lena and this mystery woman.

“...what’s the emergency?” the woman, Sam probably, asked and she again tried to be sneaky by trying to make herself as small as possible behind the billboard while peeking around it with the bra bundled up in her fist.

“I think I really messed up that’s all,” Lena muttered and again her senses acted as if on their own and her vision zoomed in so she could see the green-eyed girl smiling weakly from where she was hiding.

“What else is new,” the woman laughed and seeing Lena stand up to hug the woman made her stomach clench and she hid fully behind the billboard again.

“Sam…” the green-eyed girl pleaded with the woman and that answered the question about her identity. 

“Come on then, let’s go see if we can’t figure out what you did wrong this time and how to fix it, but you’re treating us to pizza,” Sam suggested sweetly as the little girl cheered which made Lena laugh and she realized that she missed her friend’s rich laugh.

When in a moment of paranoid panic and maybe a bit of jealousy shed again hid behind the billboard Kara missed Lena spotting her with a sad look in her green eyes, but she did poke her head back out in time to witness the woman give the pale-skinned girl a kiss on the cheek. 

Watching them leave she couldn’t help but to notice that the woman, Sam, wore a very nice looking dark blue pantsuit and really was quite pretty and that she had her hand on Lena’s back while the pale-skinned girl held the little girl’s hand. Clamping down on her emotions, hard, she focused instead on setting in motion the plan she’d come up with earlier.

Throwing the accursed bra into a nearby trashcan she then pulled off her cardigan sweater and tied it around her waist leaving her arms exposed again before she set course for her first stop at a nearby candy store she'd spotted nearby a few days again and now she had the perfect excuse to pop inside it. 

Deciding that her first official act as a hero was to do something nice for Lena. Using a hint of super-speed she popped out of the LexCorp building and picked up a truly massive gift basket filled with assorted candies and chocolates that ate up most of her remaining meager funds. 

Sneaking into Lena’s office was a bit trickier of a proposition, however, as she wasn’t quite sure where in the building it was, but she knew she would need some kind of special access to get inside it. Remembering something Lois had told her about receptionists and secretaries she got an idea for how to get inside Lena's office. Adopting a straighter and taller posture she strode up to the reception desk with the massive gift basket under one arm and smiled at the receptionist that she recognized from her first day at LexCorp.

“Hello again,” she said while doing that thing with the timbre of her voice that had worked on the girl she'd convinced to help her at the mall over the weekend when Lena had needed rescuing.

“I… hi… what can I do for you… and why am I blanking on your name?” the receptionist replied brightly and dropped her nail file while looking up at her. 

The receptionist, really a girl maybe two years older than her, had big pale-blue eyes and light-brown curly hair that verged on being almost blonde she observed. On top of that, she was wearing a collared white blouse and a black pencil skirt with matching heels making the girl the epitome of office-chic.

“It’s Danvers and you see I’ve got this gift basket that someone left for Miss Luthor, but you know me I’m forgetful so can you tell me where her office is and maybe buzz me in?” she asked and flashed the girl, not a sunny smile, but a cocky grin.

“We’re not really supposed to give that information out to interns…” the receptionist said reluctantly, and she leaned over the counter making sure to keep eye contact with the girl. Acting cocky didn’t mean that she felt cocky however and her heart was pounding in her chest.

“Please, I don’t want to get in trouble for not delivering it,” she said politely and she could see that the receptionist’s pale-blue eyes were wandering over her arms and shoulders but for the first time, she realized and accepted that someone, aside from Lena, liked what they saw. Though it took her kicking her own butt to accept that and this wasn't the time to freak out at being checked out.

“I’m not supposed to...” the admittedly cute receptionist protested, and she glanced at the girl’s LexCorp ID-badge and used another little trick Lois had taught her once. A bit of social-engineering mixed with a touch of flirting.

“Miss Teschmacher how come I never see you at lunch on the tenth floor?” she asked and ignored the nervous feeling in her stomach. A little flirting was harmless after all since she’d done it once before so why not try it again.

“We… I mean the receptionists don’t get lunch breaks like that and please call me Eve,” the girl replied, and she gave a disappointed sigh while leaning in a little bit closer to the girl. You can do this Zor-El! Heck you’re doing it!

“That’s a shame, it would be nice to do lunch with you someday,” she offered and a part of her couldn’t believe that she was saying that. 

“You’re very sweet… but I really can’t,” the pretty receptionist actually giggled, and she knew she almost had the girl where she wanted her.

“What if I throw in a tasty chocolate bar?” she offered sweetly and pulled one from the gift basket. Dangling it in front of the girl's pale-blue eyes she broke out her friendliest smile and she could see the pretty receptionist wavering.

“You’re going to get me into trouble,” Eve muttered but reached for the offered chocolate bar with a grin.

“I need a couple of minutes tops, maybe even less and you’d be doing me a huge favor,” she promised and let go of the chocolate bar with a beaming smile.

“Oh… alright, but I’m holding you to that lunch offer… and I’m coming with you,” the receptionist told her with a look that she couldn’t quite comprehend, and she nodded. Lunch, she could have lunch with a pretty girl, she’d done so before though that had been with Lena.

“Lead the way Miss Teschmacher,” she offered and straightened up and watched the girl put up a 'be right back' sign on the counter.

“You’re just the politest thing, aren’t you?” the pretty receptionist asked while looking her up and down and for once she didn’t mind it, so she just nodded. With the girl now standing up she noticed that she was athletic, toned, and with long legs and a cute butt made even more noticeable by her heels. Focus Zor-El, or look, your choice!

Lena’s office turned out to be on the eightieth floor of the LexCorp building and they arrived at a good time with almost nobody around. Miss Teschmacher, no correction Eve, she kept noticing was, in fact, a very pretty girl and she reminded her of one of the cheerleaders that she'd crushed on from a distance back in Midvale.

“You didn’t have to come with me,” she whispered to the receptionist as they hid behind a corner waiting for the coast to be clear. Again, her senses were doing weird things like letting her know that the girl smelled good.

“You need somebody to stand guard Danvers,” Miss Teschmacher whispered back with her pale-blue eyes sparkling playfully. 

“Well you’re a dear for caring,” she laughed before stopping herself while using a phrase Ma Kent often used

“You can't be real... but go, the coast is clear, I’ll stand guard,” the pale-blue-eyed receptionist whispered and motioned for her to make a dash for Lena’s office.

Lena’s all-white office didn’t look like it got much use she observed as she stepped into the green-eyed girl’s inner sanctum. Walking around the well-organized desk she saw no pictures or personal items and judging by the look of things, it was almost as if Lena didn’t want to be here.

“Maybe you’re acting out a role too uh?” she wondered out loud and picked up one of the business cards that sat in a stand on the desk. It only read Lena Luthor, no title, no position, just the green-eyed girl’s name on white stock paper. 

The side-effect of growing up around scientists and investigate reporters, and not to mention a good dose of common sense from the Kents, was that it had honed her mind to seek out answers. Though she was struggling to find the answers she desperately sought about herself, she was starting to build a mental image of the puzzle that was Lena Luthor. 

Shaking her head she again reminded herself that she wasn’t even on speaking terms with the green-eyed girl right then and put the gift basket down on the desk in such a way that it wouldn’t be noticed from the outside of the office. But, leaving the gift basket didn’t feel like quite enough so she looked around for a piece of paper and a pen. A not so anonymous note would do the trick, 

“Hope this helps, signed, a friend,” she whispered to herself as she wrote out a note in her blocky handwriting, folded it up and stuck it in the gift basket. For the first time in a while, she felt pretty good about herself.

After all, it was mission accomplished with the tasty treats delivered to Lena's desk, Miss Teschmacher the pretty receptionist standing guard and waving at her franticly to hurry up while mouthing that someone was coming. What?! Kara ran from Lena's office and dragged the receptionist, who admittedly had been a great help, with her into the nearest supply closet. This one thankfully for stationary and not filled with smelly janitors supplies like the last one.

"Back in the closet again I guess," she joked once the door closed and then noticed that the receptionist was looking up at her with a nervous look on her face.

"You think they saw us? I can't be caught away from my station up here," the now nervous girl asked way too loudly, and she really did smell very nice. Focus Zor-El!

"No, they didn’t see us,” she said after extending her hearing to double-check but she could feel Eve shivering slightly. 

“Eve, we're fine don't worry," she reassured the girl with her voice as low as she could muster and that made the girl smile.

"That was too close, and you're a troublemaker Danvers," Eve accused her in a low whisper and she actually felt her heart pounding at how the receptionist had said that.

"That’s me, always getting into trouble," she joked nervously and couldn’t help but to notice yet again that the receptionist really was quite pretty and reminded her even more of that one girl back in Midvale that she’d never had the guts to approach. 

“I believe that… so... see something you like?” the pretty receptionist asked while biting her lower lip and she did in fact see something she liked. Seeing down the girl’s blouse she saw a black lacy bra over rounded breasts and lots of smooth tan skin.

“I see trouble,” she murmured half to herself as she again opted for being earnest and spotted a stray curly lock of the girl’s light-brown hair which she impulsively tucked behind her ear while hoping that her hand wasn’t shaking too hard. 

“Who me?” the receptionist asked not so innocently and smiled up at her while her hand lingered with her fingertips brushing against the girl’s hair. Girl soft, she thought, and she wanted to touch more. But that was risky, but a part of her didn't want to be scared anymore.

Not being able to keep her eyes fixed on any one thing she noticed the pretty receptionist licking her pink lips and then she felt fingertips gently caressing her exposed arms giving her goosebumps as she drew in a sharp breath. 

“You know… I suspected that you were a fun one Danvers,” Eve whispered while batting her eyelashes up at her and that did it. 

This time she didn’t panic, instead fully in control of herself and the situation, she gently took a hold of the girl’s hands and pinned them above her head. This wouldn’t be a repeat of that night at the Kryptonite Club, no this was her choice, her decision, and Rao, she could do this if she just stayed in control of the situation. 

"Oh my!" the pretty girl giggled cutely, and she could see Eve licking her lips, hear the uptick in her heartbeat and see her pale blue eyes dilate in the darkened room. 

"I might have some ideas for fun too..." she muttered making her voice a tiny bit deeper while leaning down. This time hoping that she wasn’t sounding as awkward as she felt. 

"Feel... free to show them to me..." Eve stammered and without thinking too much about it she kissed her square on the lips

Eve’s lips tasted like strawberries, or that’s what her brain told her it was, as she kissed the pretty receptionist and kept those curious and wandering hands pinned above her head. This way there was no touching unless she allowed it, she would be in control and the cute receptionist seemed to like it. Feeling braver, she let her free hand grasp the girl’s hip and was met with an appreciative groan. 

Feeling her way up from the curve of Eve’s hip she marveled at the firm shape of her body, then she wandered up the side of her ribcage and she could feel the girl’s bra through her blouse. With her head swimming, she rounded second base for the first time in her life and Eve was pressing closer to her, but she gave a small grunt before pushing the pale-blue-eyed receptionist back against the shelves. With her hand gently cupping the girl's breast she looked into her eyes silently asking for permission.

“Yes... just like that... my goodness, you're strong..." Eve whimpered and then moaned as she asserted herself and she gently squeezed the girl’s firm breast through her blouse and bra. The ringing endorsement in the girl's moans did wonders for her fragile ego and keeping the girl's hands pinned she risked pushing her tongue into Eve’s warm mouth. 

Days of frustrations, weeks even were pouring out of her into that kiss and combined with the adrenaline rush from sneaking around and it made her feel amazing if a bit lightheaded. Despite her bumping their noses together a few times, the girl was making the cutest sounds and she was so soft to touch. Squeezing the girl’s breast with a bit more strength earned her another moan and a squirm which made her chuckle, but Rao she loved the feeling of it. 

In truth she had no idea what she was doing and honestly, she was making it up as she went along, but making a girl moan for the first time in her life made her want to do a little victory dance. Somehow her hand ended up inside Eve’s blouse and she felt the lace of the girl’s black bra, even though she hated wearing one, touching one was proving to be another matter entirely.

Gently tracing her fingers over Eve's firm and shapely breasts through the lacy fabric of the bra she decided that maybe bras weren't so bad after all. Then she drew an even louder if muffled moan from Eve's lips when she grazed the girl's nipple with her rough fingertips. Feeling the nipple harden through the girl’s bra she couldn’t resist rolling it between her fingers.

“Still think that I’m a troublemaker?” she asked in a low almost rumbling voice when she pulled away from the kiss to let the poor girl breathe while still exploring her frankly amazing breasts.

“I think… you’re too good at this,” Eve gasped with her lips swollen from their impromptu makeout session and her pink lipstick smeared. Again it made her ego soar to new heights and forget about what she'd seen in the lobby.

“You’re too kind... I hope you won't be missed though...” she whispered back politely and leaned in for another kiss because they were quite addictive, but she kept her mouth hovering against Eve’s swollen lips for a moment while giving her a chance to say stop.

“They’re gonna miss me soon… but oh you’re just… yummy!” the pretty girl whispered back while squirming slightly and then it was her turn to be kissed. As second kisses went this was a pretty good one, almost erasing the memory of the disaster at the Kryptonite Club. Eve’s lips mashed against her mouth and she felt the girl’s pink tongue dancing against her lips. 

Tightening her grip on the girl’s wrists she started grinding herself against Eve's athletic body without any conscious thought. Girl soft was pretty much the overriding thought in her mind right then and in the dimly lit supply closet, she felt like she was Zor-El. 

“Danvers... you're... amazing,” she heard Eve mumble into the kiss, and then she felt long shapely legs wrap around her hips until she was pressed fully between the girl’s legs. Feeling a certain unmistakable warmth radiating against her as the receptionist’s tight pencil skirt rode up and heels dug into her back, she followed her nose to the drops of perfume on the girl's neck and kissed the soft skin she found there.

"Fuck… take me!" Eve cursed and she could feel the girl’s hips moving now as she kept kissing away at the athletic and blue-eyed girl's slender neck.

Having no clue what to do next she improvised. Letting go of Eve’s hands and placing them on the shelf behind them with the very pretty girl grinning back at her, she then grabbed her butt and lifted her up a bit higher which made them both gasp at the increased contact between their bodies.

"Yes… you're something else..." Eve purred at her display of strength and unable to stop herself she squeezed the girl's admittedly incredible butt which in turn made her groan and close her eyes.

With the pretty receptionist holding onto the shelf she pressed herself between her legs wanting, no craving, even more contact between their bodies. Then she gave in to her urges and plundered the girl’s mouth greedily as they started moving together until passing footsteps outside the door reminded her rudely of where they were and what they were doing. Reluctantly she gently pulled back and clamped down hard on her raging urges.

“I think… I think we should sneak back now,” she suggested softly, and the girl nodded with a flushed and goofy look on her pretty face.

“Raincheck on that lunch, Danvers?” Eve asked while fixing her blouse before pulling down her pencil skirt and she nodded. This was just casual she reminded herself, a spur of the moment thing and most importantly this was her choice. And by Rao, she'd just made out with a girl! 

Sneaking back to the lobby she escorted Eve back to her seat behind the reception counter with one hand on her back since it was the polite thing to do after all, but for some reason, it made the girl blush and give her a strange look. The girls of Metropolis were still proving to be somewhat of a mystery to her even as she got to know some of them much better. Or you're being nice and gentlemanly to the girl and she likes it Zor-El? The voice that sounded like Alex reminded her in the back of her mind.

“Thank you for the help,” she said politely just in case someone was listening in or watching them and wondering where they’d gone off too. Paranoid habits die hard after all and she had just made out with this girl in a supply closet.

“See you around troublemaker,” Eve replied with a laugh and brushed a finger down her arm appreciatively and for once she didn’t mind someone touching her like that. Someone else than Lena that was.

“Miss Teschmacher,” she nodded politely and that earned her a kiss on the cheek along with a whispered command.

“Okay you can't be real and for the last time, it’s Eve… now get out of here before I find us another closet,” the pretty receptionist urged her, and she felt herself for some reason grinning from ear to ear.

“Yes ma’am,” she replied with a small salute and headed towards the elevators to get back to her dungeon. Glancing back over her shoulder she caught Eve chewing on a pencil while watching her and she found herself smiling like an idiot. Maybe she wasn't a total failure at something for once.

With her ego riding high she headed back downstairs to finish her workday, but in her mind, she did wonder what Lena was doing with that Sam woman and the little girl. Shrugging she checked her beat-up phone and with her breath catching in her throat she saw a message from Lena. It was just three words: _I am sorry_. It made her look around while half hoping to see Lena standing in the doorway but no such luck.

Still it was a gesture from the prideful green-eyed girl and if she ever was going to be a hero, she needed to be the bigger person, the better person, so she texted back three words: _Can we meet?_

* * *

Once she got home, she still hadn’t gotten a reply from Lena and put it down to the green-eyed girl being busy with that Sam woman, but she didn't dwell on what that might imply because she had other ideas for her evening. She did, however, grab a slice of pizza, a staple of the Kent-Lane household diet, before giving Lois and Clark a kiss on the cheek where the pair were busily working on their laptops while racing tomorrows deadline and then headed for her room.

Munching on the slice of pizza she started pulling out clothes from her closet, a heavy black turtleneck sweater, black jeans along with her heavy steel-toed boots that she usually wore while working on the Kent Farm. Security first, no matter if you had bullet-proof skin was what Pa Kent always said.

Finishing her slice, she checked her phone, again no messages and then she glanced out the window to see that the sun was still setting over the city. It was time to put the next part of the crazy plan she’d thought up today into effect. Part one had been to try and cheer Lena up, part two though unplanned had been making out with Eve, and now it was time for part three. 

The cardigan she’d kept tied around her waist all day fell to the floor, followed by the accursed dress and finally she stripped out of those overly restrictive panties. Standing naked in front of the mirror she studied herself but this time, not with a judgmental eye. Instead of focusing on what she now understood about herself. Lena had called her the strongest person she knew that day at the gym, Eve had wanted her because of how she looked, and even the pink-haired girl though it had freaked her out, had liked what she saw.

“Zor-El…” she repeated the name she’d always unconsciously called herself in her mind to her reflection. Proud, she felt proud, proud of her abs, proud of her arms and proud of her ruddy tan and freckles.

“I am Zor-El,” she said to herself and smiled remembering her makeout session with Eve in the supply closet while flexing her arms and shoulders.

“I am Zor-El,” she repeated the name as once her mind started going down memory lane, more specificity the memory of how amazing Eve's breasts had felt and she felt the familiar warmth growing in her belly.

Eve had been soft, gentle, tasted good, smelled heavenly and with her head swimming she lay back down on her bed. Being in control had felt amazing, and cupping her own admittedly small breasts she thought about how amazing playing with Eve’s had felt. Rubbing her thighs together as the puddle of molten heat spiked between her legs, she jumped to her feet and locked the bedroom door before getting back on the bed.

In her mind she played out how things might have gone today if they’d had more time and privacy and maybe a bit more bravery on her part and slowly she let her hand slide down her stomach and between her legs. Fantasizing about Eve’s naked breasts and athletic body pressing against her and since in her mind she was much braver than in reality, she closed her eyes while she played with herself imagining Eve going down on her and she let out a shuttering moan.

“Rao…” she whispered and clamped her legs around her hand. In her mind, pale blue eyes were looking up from between her legs and she started squirming on the bed. Eve’s imaginary pink tongue was doing things to her that made her gasp and the pretty receptionist’s moans of yes and Danvers, echoed in her ears.

In the safety of her bedroom she could let herself fantasize about anything she wanted to. Yet, the appearance of the girl in her mind kept shifting as she imagined sucking hard on pink nipples and grinding herself against the fantasy girl’s warm center with, like the one she had keenly felt today while pinning her fantasy girl down. The girl in her mind asked to be taken just as Eve had asked and she let out a low rumbling moan.

Pushing herself closer and closer to the edge of her orgasm, the images in her mind started blurring as she was again being eaten out. The light-brown hair of the fantasy girl between her legs became raven-black, the eyes looking up at her became kryptonite green, and then pale fingers entered her wet and hot core. 

“Oooh!” she groaned and the impending orgasm shook her body, sucking in her stomach she bucked against her own hand and in her mind, she could hear a girl’s sweet voice that was like audible chocolate telling her to... no demanding from her that she cum. Feeling compelled to obey she moaned as loudly as her limited privacy would allow while arching her back of the bed and grinding against her hand she felt a gush of moisture before she settled down. Once she recovered she was sweating and grinning and somehow there wasn't hint of doubt, fear or thoughts of failure in her mind.

Rolling off the bed she pulled on a pair of comfortable boxers and her white workout tank top, then she slipped into the heavy black turtleneck before pulling the jeans up her legs and buttoning them up. A pair of thick socks and the steel-toed boots followed as she once again stood in front of the mirror.

Gathering her blonde hair into a tight ponytail she again debated cutting it off but that would be a step too far, for now. Pulling off her glasses she placed them in the case on the nightstand next to her bed and allowed the reddish-white glow of her heat-vision to overtake her eyes. 

“No that won’t work it will scare people,” she said to herself and rummaged through her drawers for an old jar of eye black that she’d used while playing goalkeeper for the Midvale High soccer team. A safe position to play as Eliza had called it but she was done playing it safe.

Dabbing two fingers into the sticky black substance she drew black lines under her eyes which kind of did the trick and then digging out an old baseball cap with the House of El crest on it she stuffed it on the top of her head with the ponytail sticking out the back. It wasn’t a perfect disguise but it would hide her identity in the dark of the night while the sweater and the jeans hid her shape, and the eye black made her eyes look darker and the cap covered most of her blonde hair.

Grabbing her beat-up phone and stuffing it into her pocket, in case Lena texted, she climbed onto the fire-escape and launched herself in the direction of the Suicide Slums. Superman might not go there, but just maybe she could make a difference there in her own way. It was time to stop being Regular Old Kara Danvers and be a hero. No matter what her family might have to say about it or how many of her fears and doubts reared the ugly head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, if the mob will form an orderly line outside my castle with their torches it will help speed things along!


	6. Mending Fences (Farmgirls Are Good at Those)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day and a night in the life of Zor-El, as our hero heads to the Suicide Slums in her first outing as a hero, or is she a vigilante? During the light of day, she has a run-in with Lex Luthor himself as she tries to mend fences with Lena while on her own quest to obtain Eve Teschmacher's phone number, something she forgot to do while otherwise occupied while in the supply closet with the pretty receptionist.

Rooftops were tricky, because they were actually very small targets to land on and for the third time that night, instead of landing in a cool pose, Zor-El tumbled a few times before coming to her feet covered in dust and debris. Getting to her bearings while spitting out what she hoped wasn’t pigeon droppings and dusting down the all-black getup she had on, she looked out over the rooftops stretching out before her. 

It had taken her several jumps going from rooftop to rooftop across the city to reach the Suicide Slums instead of flying there. Because flying was what Superman did and doing the same would draw attention to her little outing that she didn’t want or care for. Fixing her Superman ball cap and standing with the tips of her steel-toed black boots on the edge of the rooftop, she scanned the streets below her and they were like before lit by sparsely working streetlights, some of them broken or flickering and it gave the place a distinct gloomy and depressing feel. How could people live here?

This had been as far as her plan had gone, dress up as a kind of a hero in bulky black clothes that could get dirty, jump a few tall buildings, and do good. When Kal did this it always looked easy and effortless and it was almost if the bad guys sought out her cousin for a fight, but her luck wasn’t proving to be the same. Checking her phone again she wondered if she should just jump back home and forget about this whole crazy idea. Maybe give Alex a call and brag about what she’d done with Eve Teschmacher in the supply closet.

A loud crashing noise drew her attention, however, and she stuffed her phone back into her black jeans and with what she hoped was a graceful gliding jump she headed in the direction of the sound. Landing outside what looked like a twenty-four-hour diner located in the corner of a shabby looking apartment building she was again greeted by the sight of young men, boys really, dressed similarly to the ones from the other night in leather jackets over clothes that had seen better days.

There were four of them that were trying to force their way into the diner while the owner, a grey-haired man in his sixties, yelled at them that he wasn’t paying their stupid protection fee and that they should scram before he shot them full of hot plasma. X-ray visioning the man she could see that he had what looked like a Daxamite plasma-pistol in his hand but that the weapon looked ancient and its power cell was nearly empty. Thank you for the secret weapon lessons aunt Astra, she thought kindly back to her aunt on Krypton.

“Do we have a problem?” she asked with her voice in a low rumble as she crossed her arms across her chest. When they didn’t respond she stomped her foot down hard enough to shake the ground to get their attention as the pavement cracked underneath her boot. Much like back in the supply closet with Eve she was making this new direction in her life up as she went along.

“I think you should leave,” she declared and kept her arms crossed over her chest as she debated flashing them some of her heat-vision eyes. Project strength, project confidence, and never back down, words that her mother Alura, her aunt Astra and Lois had all instilled in her both on Krypton and here on Earth. 

The boys turned around and she did a quick sweep of them using her senses, seeing wild eyes with very dilated pupils, hearing their elevated blood pressure, and smelling again cheap alcohol and something else she couldn’t place on their breaths. Remembering her mistakes from the other night she stood her ground, they couldn’t hurt her, not really, but she could hurt them badly.

“Or what, you're going to be a hero and make us?” one of them asked cockily and flashed her a weapon by pulling his jacket open to one side. Judging by the faint green glow of the weapon’s grip she knew what it was, as again those lessons from Astra kicked in and she recognized it as a Klaxion disruptor or a very well Earth-made facsimile, but mistaking her hesitation for a weakness the boy grew bolder.

“Didn’t think so, now beat it loser, this is Intergang territory!” he threatened her with one hand on the weapon’s grip and she didn’t like the tone of his voice one bit nor the laughing of his friends.

Clamping down hard on her emotions, she set her jaw and put her hands on her hips in case she needed to use them while puffing out her chest. The other night she’d been upset and angry, but tonight she was here to do good and more importantly not hurt anybody. It would be so easy to rush them and take them down at super-speed but the memory of the boy's hand breaking against her jaw the other night was still fresh in her mind.

“Last chance. Leave,” she ordered them in a low growl and glared at them from underneath her ball cap, but it didn’t have the desired effect. Instead, the leader of the little gang that had flashed her the weapon grew more annoyed at her refusal to walk away. 

“There is always one wannabe Superman,” he sighed dramatically which again made his buddies laugh the coarse laugh of drunken men and moved to draw the disrupter on her, but she was faster than he was, much faster than anyone on this entire planet in fact.

It also helped that this time she was level-headed too and had no doubts. Moving at super-speed she left a black blur in her wake and disarmed him before he could even get a shot off on her. Holding his hand by the wrist above his head while with her other hand she crushed the weapon in her fist and it sent sparks flying, illuminating the street in a burst of green light. 

“I am no Superman,” she told him pointedly as she lifted him slightly from the ground causing him to kick his feet while he tried to swing his fist at her but it just collided harmlessly with her chest. Giving him a questioning look as his fist pounced of her again she had to fight back a laugh. Honestly, It took considerable effort on her part to be this serious and gruff, but she was secretly loving it.

“Do something!” he shouted at his friends who were seemingly gathering the courage to rush her but dangling their leader a foot off the ground seemed to have dampened their boisterous mood somewhat. But they were producing what looked like metal pipes turned into makeshift clubs from underneath their jackets.

“Yes, please do something,” she challenged them and narrowed her eyes at them while making sure that she was on a good footing as a nearby streetlight flickered on and off. 

The standoff lasted maybe a few seconds until the owner of the diner fired off a blue bolt from his Daxamite plasma-pistol into the air in a misguided effort to help her no doubt, but when he tried to fire a second shot the weapon clicked empty. The sudden noise and flash of blue light spooked her and caused her to drop the leader of the gang. Then all hell broke loose as they bum-rushed her all at once to try and take her down. Striking at her with their makeshift metal clubs that sparked against her skin when they struck her face and they were also kicking at her legs trying to force her to the ground.

“Get him!” someone yelled, and she growled at the implication of that while she held up her arms in front of her face to block their blows because she didn’t want to hurt them. There it was again, that smell on their breaths she couldn’t place, and then to her surprise, she actually felt some of the hits that were landing across her back and shoulders which made her grunt.

“Hey, I think he’s a girl!” someone else yelled and she felt her ponytail being pulled at. That brought back unwanted memories of being teased back in Midvale when she’d worn baggy clothes for the first and only time to school as she growled again and felt her anger rising.

“No way!” she heard a laugh, and then someone tried to grab her under her bulky sweater to confirm it and that did it. What Astra would have called an object lesson was needed for these idiots.

“Get... off me!?” she roared unleading the power of voice and pushed them all away as she swung out her arms wide as the force of her voice caused a shockwave that rattled the diner's windows.

Don’t hurt them, was the overriding thought in her mind but also the fact that again who she was as a person was being doubted or mocked gnawed at her ego. Adopting a boxing stance that she'd learned by watching YouTube while working out at her make-shift gym at the Kent Farm she bounced on the balls of her feet and held up her fists challenging them to come at her. After dodging a few of their wild swings while pulling her punches it was her turn. Bending down under a wild swing she used a fraction of her strength to upper-cut one of them almost out of his shoes before continuing moving in one fluid motion she delivered two quick jabs with enough force to send two of them staggering back gasping for air. The last one of them she picked up by the front of his dirty t-shirt and gently smacked him on the side of the head with an open palm which was enough to knock him out cold.

“Catch,” she declared casually and tossed him at the other three who were still recovering from her flurry of punches which caused them to tumble to the ground underneath the dead weight of their unconscious buddy. 

Walking over to them slowly but with a purpose, while shaking out her fists she made sure her footsteps of black booted feet against the pavement were heavy and thudding, but she also flashed them a disarming smile that sent them scrambling backward as they crawled from underneath their friend. Though to their credit, even though she wasn’t sure it was to the credit of their stupidity or bravery, they squared up against her again.

“What are you!?” one of them shouted, swinging his makeshift club in front of himself trying to fend her off while his friends huffed something that looked like green mist from small metal canisters.

“I am someone who can do this all night long,” she declared with a grin and cracked her knuckles at them. Got to work on those one-liners Zor-El, she reminded herself and again she noted their pupils dilating and she could hear that their pulse was dangerously high. 

Acting again much cockier than she felt, but reminding herself that they couldn’t hurt her, not physically at least, and with the diner’s owner having fired his one and only shot she needed to scare them enough so they would stay away. Finding their bravery yet again, maybe inside those canisters, they started to try and circle her like a pack of hyenas around a lion. They did seem to be moving faster, but she was faster still and parried each incoming blow until they were at another stand-off and there was a blank look to their faces now. Deciding to end this she finally allowed the reddish-white glow to come over her eyes with a sizzling sound that seemed to scare them into some form of coherent thought. 

Then punching her right fist into the palm of her left hand with enough force to create a small shockwave that caused them to stagger backward seemed to do the trick. Because when she put up her fists again the next attack never came, instead they gathered up their fallen friend and retreated into the night mumbling that the crazy alien chick wasn't worth it as she let out a long sigh of relief. True, she could have done this all night but that didn’t mean she wanted to. Turning around she saw the diner’s owner looking at her with curious old eyes as he fiddled with his plasma-pistol and slapped it a few times to try to get it working again. Giving him a friendly smile, she tried to sound as confident as Kal always did when he did this sort of thing.

“They should leave you alone for now,” she told him making sure to lower the timbre of her voice and crouched down slightly to get ready to jump away to a nearby rooftop to panic a little bit in private.

“Why don’t you come inside and I’ll scrounge you up something as a thank you?” the diner’s owner, however, offered while holding the door open before she could leave and she picked up the distinct smell of pancakes and syrup coming from inside.

“I couldn’t,” she protested but the grey-haired man wearing a white if a bit spotted apron smiled as her ever-hungry stomach betrayed her with a low grumble.

“I insist, it’s the least I can do since nobody around these parts would dare take on the Intergang like that,” he insisted and after looking around she gave a shy and reluctant nod at his praise. 

“Only for a few minutes,” she replied, in case they come back she reasoned with herself, and stepped into the small diner that did, in fact, smell like pancakes, coffee, and history.

“So… you got a name or are you one of those superhero folks?” the owner asked as he walked behind the counter and started pouring pancake batter onto a hot plate. 

“Superhero folk I guess,” she answered and sat down carefully on a barstool by a counter that had seen better days.

“Then I won’t pry, but thank you again, those boys get hopped up on cheap beer and Compound-K and go around thinking that they’re big gangsters,” he explained dramatically and Compound-K must have been that green mist she’d seen them huffing and also responsible for the smell she’d noted on the boys' breaths both earlier and the other night.

“Explains the dilated pupils and elevated blood pressure,” she commented off-handedly as she looked around the diner while the owner worked behind the counter. 

It was a small diner with three booths lining the large but barred windows facing the street, while she sat at a counter with four stools in front of it and a small kitchen behind it. Everything looked like it had seen better days, the red and white checkered pattern on the tables looked faded and the red leather on the stools and booths was cracked and worn with age. Remembering that she was inside, she took off her ball cap and shook out her ponytail because as Ma Kent kept telling her, Clark and Pa, hats, and caps off inside the house at all times. 

“One hero-sized stack of pancakes and I think you’re a Coke Cola in the bottle kind of girl,” the diner’s owner said, placing a plate of pancakes and a glass bottle of cola in front of her with a grin.

“Thank you, sir,” she thanked him politely and reached into her pocket to see what money she’d remembered to bring with her on her little superhero outing.

“It’s on the house and please it’s Patrick or just Pat,” he said holding up his large and calloused hands refusing her money. Patrick was broad and bulky wearing a dirty apron over a checkered shirt, with a lined face and short-cropped grey hair, but there was wisdom in his pale eyes and what seemed to be a small smile always tucking at the corner of his mouth.

“I…” she tried to introduce herself, wanting to say Zor-El, but that would give too much away, and it was too soon, but it was impolite not to say anything.

“Look, I get it, no offense taken,” Pat assured her when she hesitated and poured himself a cup of coffee as he leaned back on the other side of the counter.

“Sorry, this is kinda my first night doing this... thing,” she admitted and stuck her fork into the pancakes in front of her that were covered in syrup with a piece of butter on top of the stack.

“No need to make excuses, you scared those boys off good!” Pat laughed and sipped at this coffee while giving her a measured look and she knew she was being sized up by trained eyes. 

“What’s the deal with them anyway?” she asked in between forkfuls of pancake and sips of the cola to wash them down.

“They call themselves Intergang, puffed up wannabe punks playing at being gangsters, started making noise about a year ago,” Pat explained grouchily and put his hands on the counter while lowering his voice while leaning in closer.

“Though if you ask me, I think that someone from outside of the Slums is providing them with those fancy guns of theirs and that Compound-K poison they keep huffing,” he whispered even though there was nobody else in the diner but the two of them.

“And you, what’s your story?” she asked and bit into another forkful of pancakes that were really quite good while watching the diner's owner as he smoothed down his dirty apron. 

“Me, I’m just the crazy old human who runs a diner here in Alien Town and tries to keep out of trouble,” he laughed trying to deflect her question and pulled his now spent plasma-pistol out of the pocket on his apron.

“I don’t believe that for a second, because Daxamite plasma-pistols aren’t easy to come by and you’re going to need a new power cell for it soon, and what's Alien Town” she replied with a grin and pointed her fork at the weapon while thinking that Lois would be proud of her investigative skills, that was if she ever chose to tell the woman about this night.

“Smart girl... alright my family has been running this diner since the 1920s back when nobody called this the Suicide Slums or Alien Town, that's the four or so blocks around this diner by the way, and me well I guess you could call me a local fixture. Now, if you’re so smart maybe you can fix this thing,” he laughed and tossed her the pistol which she caught with ease without even putting down her fork.

“And you’re not worried that I am an…” she let the sentence linger while inspecting the weapon. Once closer inspection she could tell that it was indeed Daxamite and very weathered and old but how it had ended up on Earth she couldn't tell.

Pulling out the power cell she turned it over in her hand and felt for the little switch inside the grip she knew was there. The weapon had over-heated from the feel of it and judging by how old it was the energy discharge had caused the safety to trigger. Flicking it back off she blew a puff of cold air on it before she popped the power cell back into the pistol’s grip and turned it on with a grin.

“An alien, a meta-human, a vigilante, a blonde girl from the nicer part of town trying to be a hero, nope, I don’t judge just serve food,” he replied and his eyes widened when the weapon hummed back to life again. 

“It should be good for a few shots more but keep it cooled because it’s very old and thank you,” she told him and slid the weapon back towards him. 

“How… never mind I bet it’s one of those things that you hero types can’t talk about,” he chuckled and hid the weapon away under the counter. 

“My aunt taught me how back on… back home,” she explained the best she could without mentioning Krypton before busying herself with the rest of her pancakes. Then her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her pocket where upon seeing that it was a message from Lena she smiled.

“Excuse me,” she apologized to the nice diner owner while she read the message and replied to it.

 _Lunch tomorrow?_ It was another simple message from Lena and again she had to remind herself to be the better person, but it felt good to hear from the green-eyed girl again.

 _Of course, somewhere a bit more private though?_ She texted back while biting into her lower lip, remembering what Lillian Luthor had yelled at Lena for earlier that same day. Wondering to herself if it was that Sam woman that Lena kept looking at and thus angering her mother?

 _It’s a date! Now you wouldn’t happen to know anything about a massive basket of candies someone left on my desk today_ , the next and much longer text read as she was sure she was blushing and Pat seemed to notice the shift in her behavior.

 _No…_ she typed back slowly but with full knowledge that she wasn’t convincing the pale-skinned girl at all with that reply.

 _Funny it must have been some other tall and in incredible shape sneaky blonde on my security camera footage then_ , the message from Lena read followed by a winky face emoji.

 _Sorry I wanted to try to cheer you up that’s all_ , she wrote back and hit send with a series of apologetic smiley emojis while praying that Lena wouldn't push her for the reason behind her gift.

 _You’re cute, you know that right, but I’ll see you tomorrow and again I’m sorry for the other night_ , the reply made her breathe a sigh of relief and she gave a thoughtful look at her phone as she wrote back.

 _Let’s talk about it tomorrow okay?_ she wrote back, and her finger hovered over the send button. What she really wanted to do was to ask if the green-eyed girl was alright, wanted to ask about Sam and that little girl she’d seen her with, but that would mean giving away the fact she’d been eavesdropping and spying on the pale girl. _But I'm open to forgiving you... just it should be done in person,_ she added.

“Boyfriend?” the diner’s owner asked while wiping down the counter with a rag and she shook her head as she hit send.

“Girlfriend then, bah don’t mind me, I don’t know how these things work anymore,” he laughed swinging the rag over his shoulder and again she shook her head and put the phone down.

“Just a friend,” she replied with a smile as she got one last message from Lena arrived read; _Thank you_ and she used the last of her pancake to mop up the rest of the syrup on her plate.

“Must be some friend then judging by that smile… so are you going out there again?” Pat asked before changing the subject and she took a long sip from her glass bottle of cola while nodding. 

“In that case and if you want to cause some more trouble for Intergang, they do have a hideout about three blocks from here. Now, it would be a darn shame if someone would show up and stomp their foot outside there a few times now wouldn’t it?” he asked with a grin that made his laugh lines show and he really did have a friendly face. 

“A real shame,” she agreed and finished her drink before placing the bottle down on the counter. 

“Now are you sure I can’t pay you?” she asked as she stood up and put her ball cap back on while getting ready to leave.

“I’m sure and come back anytime you need a hot meal or just a friendly ear,” he replied, and she gave him a grateful smile.

“I might just take you up on that offer, but next time I am paying,” she insisted and walked to the door where the bell rang when she opened it.

“We’ll see about that and be careful out there Kryptonian,” he called after her and when she gave him a wide-eyed look he just winked.

“Been around the block a few times kiddo, now go kick some butt,” he encouraged her, and she gave him a firm nod before stepping back outside. 

Looking up and down the street she let her ears and nose guide her towards the location Pat had told her about. It was time to be a hero, or maybe she was a vigilante, and make this place a little bit safer for the people who lived here. Crouching down she got ready to jump but decided against it, instead, she walked tall down the street and made sure she was seen.

* * *

It was almost five in the morning when she dragged herself back into her bedroom and collapsed into bed while pulling off her ball cap. Her black clothes were dirty and covered in soot, her face was grimy, and her hair was sticking up in all directions from the electric shocks she’d taken. But it had been a successful outing, aside from chasing those Intergang members away from Pat’s Diner she’d cleared out one of their little clubhouses where one of them had tried and succeeded in zapping her with an exposed electric cable. After sending them packing after a wild brawl she’d saved a family of alien refugees from an apartment fire where it had taken the fire department much too long to respond to it. So, she’d been forced to put it out herself by breaking open a fire-hydrant and then directing the water with her hands which had left her soaked.

Pulling her beat-up phone out of the pocket of her jeans she read over the texts between herself and Lena again and it dawned on her that she was due to meet the girl in less than seven hours. What should she say? Sorry, I listened in on your evil mother berating you for being yourself and there is nothing wrong with your hips in fact they’re kinda distracting, oh and I also spied on you going on a lunch date with that hot single-mom and what’s the deal with that? 

“Rao, what a mess,” she groaned and rolled over and buried her face in her pillow before somewhat clumsily pulling off her makeshift superhero costume and throwing it in the general direction of her dirty laundry hamper. 

Then there was Eve Teschmacher the LexCorp receptionist, oh boy Eve, who reminded her of that one girl she’d had such a crushed on back in Midvale and who had been soft to the touch in that supply closet where they’d made out. Now she owed that girl a lunch date as well and maybe another trip to the closet, though was that the right thing to do? 

“Ugh,” she grunted and pulled her covers up to her chin while closing her eyes trying to put both girls out of her mind, but her brain wasn’t giving up that easily. Instead, it kept reminding her of the two girls that somehow had entered into her life or more like she’d stumbled into being in weird relationships with. 

Lena Luthor, her green-eyed and porcelain-skinned maybe friend who had admittedly messed up big time, who seemingly had some kind of a thing going with a woman called Sam which she couldn’t stop thinking about for some reason. The girl whose touch she never seemed to flinch away from and who clearly hid her sadness underneath a thick layer of bravado and sarcasm. The girl who had made her feel like a hero.

Eve Teschmacher, the receptionist with the pale-blue and playful eyes, with her curly light-brown hair and tanned skin. Who had called her trouble and had asked her to take her in that closet? What was she supposed to do after that? Bring her flowers, ask her out, or pretend it didn’t happen? Maybe she should Google that daddy term too? She wasn't good at this kind of stuff and It was all so confusing that it made her head hurt while all she wanted to do was sleep.

“Ughhhhh,” she growled louder and bit into her covers as she rolled around a few times to try to get comfortable in her bed. It didn’t help that she still felt the rush of adrenaline in her body from what she’d been doing all night.

Out of frustration she ended up taking matters into her own hand, sort to speak, as she pushed her hand down her boxers and felt around while squirming. This was becoming a habit but a pleasant one. Closing her eyes and licking her dry lips she thought about someone being down there, touching, kissing, and licking her and it caused her to let out a low moan. Like last time her imagination took on a life of its own and she really was much braver in her fantasies because she’d never trust anyone to do that in real life, not yet at least. 

Playing with her own breasts through her top she felt her nipples harden just like Eve’s had under her touch, but, in her mind, she again saw those green eyes looking up from between her legs and it was like a jolt of electricity shot up from her hot core. Penetrating herself in time with her fantasy girl’s motions she heard that voice again urging her to cum as she arched her back and imagined soft hands roaming over her stomach and breasts. 

Pulling up her tank top she squeezed her breast and sucking in her stomach she bucked hard against her own hand as her frustration at her inability to sleep combined with the adrenaline still rushing through her veins from a night spent being a hero made her rub herself harder. Spreading her shaking legs open wider she could hear how wet she was and the smell mixed with sweat and soot, she was dirty and she loved it. 

Squeezing her eyes shut she imagined pinning the girl in her fantasies down and ravaging her, wrapping her lips around a soft breast while sucking it and slowly fingering the girl’s pussy. That caused her to orgasm harder than before with a gush of wetness all over her fingers. But the fantasy kept playing out in her head and she could almost feel her fantasy girl crawling on top of her, that pale hand going between her legs and those ruby red lips against her neck with a voice whispering an order for her to cum again. The sound of that voice in her head made her orgasm even harder while shaking all over and she saw stars behind her eyelids before her coiled up and tense body relaxed again.

With her body spent, sleep eventually did come but the couple of hours of rest she managed to get weren’t good ones. Swirling dreams about girls with pale-blue and green eyes haunted her and they were calling her Zor-El, Danvers, Kara Z, and all these different names and touching her, always touching her and she liked it. When she woke up, she was sore from head to toe, but it was nothing that a quick breakfast and some early morning sun wouldn’t fix. Chalk one up for Kryptonian physiology. 

Rolling out of bed she brushed her teeth and noticing the smell of her white tank top and boxers she threw both in the wash along with her all-black hero getup from the night before. Seeing the black lines that she’d painted under her eyes still there and her hair still sticking up in all directions made her jump in the shower and it took a lot of scrubbing to get the eye black off along with the grime and soot from her night of vigilantism. A better solution would be needed for any future super-hero outings she decided, but right now she had to get ready for work. Looking down at the blue dress still laying in a heap on the floor she kicked the offending garment with a satisfied smirk into her closet.

“What would Zor-El or Danvers for that matter wear?” she thought and rummaged through her still somewhat limited clothing options while using the new names she’d settled on for herself. Danvers for work and Zor-El for well someone special to call her maybe later on.

Slipping on a pair of red boxers before pulling out her pair of good jeans from her first day at LexCorp, along with the black dress shirt that went with her suit that she really did like the cut off as it showed off her powerful upper body. Walking in front of the mirror, she pulled the jeans up her legs and buttoned them up. Her wet blonde hair was an unruly mane as usual, but she just shook it out and let it fall down around her shoulders giving herself a wild and unkempt look. Feeling like a lion she roared at her reflection and then laughed.

“I can do this,” she said to herself happily and decided to forgo a tank top today instead opting to go bare underneath her shirt. Feeling bold today are we Zor-El?

Standing topless and barefoot in front of the mirror she again studied herself like she always did. The ruddy tan she’d had upon arrival in Metropolis was fading somewhat, but the freckles were still there on her broad and strong shoulders and above and between her small breasts, but she felt proud of how she looked just like she had the day before and that feeling wasn’t going away anytime soon she decided. Last night she’d used her powers and strength to do good and nobody had judged her for it. 

“Danvers, at your service,” she said to her reflection and grinned while flexing her shoulders and arms, liking how the muscles under her skin rippled. 

“Miss Teschmacher how are you today?” she practiced what she would say when she passed by the cute receptionist in a slightly deeper voice.

The thought of the girl made her face flush and she pulled on the black shirt leaving it open. Reaching for her glasses she put them on and then had a crazy idea, though she wasn’t sure if she could do it. But bravery won out, grabbing her phone and with its beat-up camera, she took a picture of herself in front of the mirror with the black shirt hanging open while she sucked in her stomach to show off her abdominal muscles for the camera. Never before had she felt this confident in her looks, but she found herself liking it. 

“Oh… I really should ask for her number,” she muttered while studying the picture she’d snapped of herself in a moment of madness with her abs on full display and showing just a hint of her small breasts, but she didn’t delete it. Though awkward and sometimes clueless she wasn't a dummy and she understood the concept of the hot selfie. 

Buttoning up the shirt, she tucked it into the waistband of her jeans and put on a belt before pulling on her blue socks that had cute little ice-cream bars on them and slipping into her polished black shoes that she’d bought to go along with her midnight-black suit. Though she wasn’t quite ready to put that back on again at least she could make good use of some of it. 

As a final touch she unbuttoned the top three buttons of the shirt at the collar in a very brave, at least for her, showing her exposed skin before rolling up the sleeves all the way to her biceps. Drawing deliberate attention to her muscular arms for the only second time in her life, with the first being when she had flirted with Miss Teschmacher or maybe it had been at the gym with Lena.

“Alright, let’s do this,” she said to herself and grabbed her old messenger bag which she slung over one shoulder before clipping her LexCorp ID-badge to her belt. Bending forward again and shaking out her still damp hair a bit more she left it hanging wild and unruly like a lion's mane around her shoulders. It was messy and still kept getting in the way, but it felt less restrictive like this and maybe someday soon she’d find the courage to just cut it off.

Checking herself in the mirror one last time she smiled and reminded herself that she was strong, she was powerful, and she was in control of her life. Stepping out of her room she found that the apartment was empty and a note from Lois on the refrigerator explained that the reporter had been sent on assignment to Gotham for a few of days, that Clark was off-world for a while, again, and that there was money in the take-out menu drawer and leftover pizza in the fridge. 

“Well that makes things a little bit easier,” she muttered to herself since it made the late-night sneaking around a bit easier and involved way less guilt on her part and opening the fridge she grabbed a leftover slice of pizza for breakfast to go. 

Jumping off the bus outside LexCorp she looked up at the tall and imposing building, but this time it didn’t scare her, instead, she held firmly onto the strap of her messenger bag and strode into the lobby with a purpose. Spotting Miss Teschmacher right away sitting behind the receptionist counter she turned quickly to say good morning to the pretty girl but being a bit too focused on her task she walked right into the tall frame of Lex Luthor himself with a resounding thud. The impact didn’t move her, of course, but it did send the CEO of the company flying.

“Oh gosh Mister Luthor, I’m so sorry sir,” she blurted out when she realized that she’d knocked the owner of the company and Lena’s brother onto his butt. Embarrassed wasn’t a strong enough word in the English language to describe how she felt right then.

“No my apologies I wasn’t looking where I was going,” the bald man laughed from the floor while waving back a scary looking woman who was no doubt one of his bodyguards and she offered him her hand. It was the least she could do.

“I’m so sorry… like I’m all the sorries! I wasn’t looking where I was going and I was going to say hello to my friend over there and... are you alright?” she asked fighting back against her rising panic as Lex Luthor took her hand in a surprisingly strong grip.

“Kara Danvers, right? Clark’s cousin?” he asked which surprised her as she helped the CEO and owner of LexCorp to his feet and he dusted off his grey power-suit and fixed his red tie that had an expensive-looking tiepin through it.

“Yes, sir, Danvers, that’s me,” she nodded and blurted out awkwardly while pulling the ID-badge up to her face before looking down at her shoes but sticking with forgoing using Kara today.

“That’s some strength you got there Danvers, bet you played linebacker for Smallville High,” he laughed and rubbed his shoulder where she’d collided with him while rotating his arm.

“Goalkeeper, sir, for Midvale,” she corrected him and that made him give her a curious look with those same green eyes that Lena had.

“What a loss for my alma mater then, so what do we have you doing here?” he asked making small-talk and she looked up at him surprised that he even cared or knew about a lowly intern like her.

“Filing and data entry, sir,” she replied and put her hands behind her back and stood up a bit straighter while praying to Rao that the Earth would open up and just swallow her whole. 

“Really, I might have to have a word with Lena about that,” he commented and stroked his chin which worried her right away. Lena had enough troubles with her mother without her adding the girl’s brother to the mix.

“No need sir, Lena has been nothing but excellent to me and the job is important,” she defended the green-eyed girl without hesitation. Though you’ve not talked about the thing at the Kryptonite Club with her yet, that annoying voice in the back of her head reminded her dryly.

“You are Clark’s cousin that’s for sure, earnest to a fault,” he laughed and waved his bodyguard over, a blonde woman that was as tall as she was and wearing a black suit that looked like a uniform over a white shirt with her hair braided.

“Mercy, bring the car around please and Danvers if you ever want to do something besides filing and data entry you let me know,” he said with a nod to his bodyguard who handed her a business card that had Lex Luthor embellished on it in bold gold letters.

“Thank you, sir,” she nodded her head and accepted the business card from the scowling woman whom she tried to smile at but to no effect. 

Lex Luthor flashed her a familiar smirk that she recognized from Lena’s lips and left her standing there with the business card in her hands staring at it while no doubt looking like a total idiot. Eventually, in an embarrassed daze, she ended up wandering over to the receptionist counter where Eve was looking at her with those pale-blue eyes wide in shock.

“Danvers, you just bowled over the owner of this entire building,” the pretty receptionist whispered under her breath and she could only nod as she turned the business card over in her hands.

“I know…” she muttered and tried to shake off the lingering embarrassment of what she’d just done. Again wondering what she'd done in a previous life to earn this level of bad luck.

“Well... at least you looked good doing it! I love that shirt and that whole wild I don't give a damn thing you got going with your hair,” Eve told her and that made her look at the grinning girl who was looking her up and down like she was dessert. 

“Thank you, Miss Teschmacher,” she mumbled and fought against the blush creeping into her cheeks. Not as smooth as you planned, eh Zor-El? Just do what you did last time!

“You are something else Danvers,” the girl who upon further inspection really was more of a honey-blonde than light-brown haired laughed at her mumbling reply and that did make her blush.

“Is that good or bad?” she asked pulling herself up to her full height while trying to recover some of that swagger she’d woken up with, but again this wasn’t going as smoothly as she’d planned it in front of her mirror this morning.

“Oh it’s good, it’s very good,” Eve assured her and she found herself believing the girl while noticing that today Eve Teschmacher wore a tight-fitting red sleeveless dress that came down to just above her knees with a high collar and it hugged the receptionist’s athletic body while her soft hair was curled and tempting her to touch it.

“But… keep looking at me like that and I might have to find us somewhere private later,” the pretty receptionist teased her, and her eyes snapped up to the girl’s eye level right away.

“Sorry, you’re just really pretty and I never got your number,” she blurted out and had to fight back the urge to groan at how gosh-darned awkward she was coming off as today.

“Danvers you can’t be real, but you better get to work before I do something that will get me into trouble and here,” Eve replied with a peal of laughter that made her spine tingle but the pretty receptionist did write a few digits down on a Post-It note before handing it over.

“Yes ma’am,” she exclaimed with a goofy grin, grabbing the offered note, she squared her shoulders before turning on her heel and she tried to stride towards the elevators with a bit of a self-assured swagger. Don't look back, don't look back she repeated to herself but look back she did and the receptionist was watching her with that look that made her want to find a supply closet and pin the girl down.

When the elevator doors closed, however, she bent over with her hands on her knees and sucked in a few deep breaths to stop herself from hyperventilating. So far her triumphant day of being out and proud had resulted in her knocking Lex Luthor on his behind and being turned into a babbling wreck by Miss Teschmacher’s pretty red dress while having all these thoughts swirling in her head, way to go Zor-El and you haven’t even met Lena yet. Then the good old Danvers lucked kicked in hard again and her day kept getting messier.

“Kara?” Lena’s voice was as always as audible chocolate to her ears and when she looked up the green-eyed girl was standing in front of her with a worried look on her pale face.

“Rao why me!” she cursed without realizing it and that caused Lena’s eyebrow to rise up higher than ever before. Seeing Lena again felt good, but she didn’t need it, not right now and certainly not like this in a confined space.

“Came down to check on you but you weren’t there, guess you were busy,” the green-eyed girl explained and stepped into the elevator while pushing the button to keep the doors open.

“That’s me, busy… ran into… well ran over your brother…” she replied and saw that Lena was wearing a very conservative outfit today that consisted of an all-black ankle-length skirt and blouse ensemble with sensible shoes. The blouse was tightly buttoned in stark contrast to her own open shirt and Lena had her raven-black hair in a severe-looking bun and gone were the flashy necklaces, numerous rings, and sparkling earrings that the girl usually wore replace by a single emerald broach pinned to her blouse. 

“No way!” Lena laughed and again there was that laugh she’d not realized or maybe not admitted that she’d been missing. 

“Yes… in the lobby in front of everyone and Eve too…” she muttered while waving the Post-It note with the pretty receptionist’s number on it like it would explain what she was on about and sank to the floor of the elevator in defeat.

“Eve?” the green-eyed girl asked while going down on her haunches thus allowing them to remain at eye level. Being this close she noticed that the pale-skinned girl wore almost no make-up today either.

“Teschmacher, the receptionist, honey blonde brownish hair, pale blue eyes and why am I telling you this?” she replied without thinking and that made her even more embarrassed.

“Beats me, I was coming to ask if you wanted pizza or Chinese for lunch because I know a great place for both,” Lena shrugged and then grinned at her with a frightful implication to the grin.

“Now… have we been busy with the girls in the secretarial pool?” the green-eyed girl then asked and there was a twinkle to her green eyes.

“Maybe… and hey you’re not off the hook yet missy,” she bit back upon remembering that night in the Suicide Slums and that pink-haired girl Lena had tried to set her up with. Stupid, stupid, stupid, now is not the time, she kicked herself internally for jumping straight to that sore spot between them. So much for being the better and bigger person.

Lena’s green eyes darkened and holding onto her skirt the girl moved to sit down next to her on the elevator floor. Giving the pale-skinned girl a sideways glance, she waited for her to speak as she fiddled with the strap of her messenger bag.

“So… you remember how you told me you weren’t good at certain types of stuff…” Lena started, and she gave a nod when the girl looked at her with sad green eyes.

“Well… there is… stuff I’m not good at either…” the green-eyed girl went on and picked at a loose thread in her skirt.

“Such as…” she gently pushed but she could already guess at what those things were, based on what she’d overheard the day before while snooping around.

“I try too hard… I think I know what people need and then I try to give it to them and… I wanted to do something nice for you because... you were my hero that day at the mall, but I fucked it up,” Lena explained in a haltering voice and for some reason, she put an arm around the girl’s slender shoulders.

“Go on,” she urged the green-eyed girl and stuck out her long leg to stop the doors of the elevator from closing on them.

“But… someone told me that maybe I shouldn’t have done that and that you had never asked anything of me… and that I should just try to be your friend, if you still want me to be,” Lena went on and gave her the tiniest of smiles that carried with it so much vulnerability that she felt like her heart stopped for a second.

“That someone sounds like they’re very smart,” she agreed, and that made Lena smile brighter as she wondered just who could make the green-eyed girl smile like that.

“She is almost too smart and told me to keep saying that I’m sorry until you heard me,” the green-eyed girl mumbled with a smile and she knew it had to have been that Sam woman that she’d seen Lena hug and get kissed on the cheek by.

“Good… that’s good… well, I might have overreacted a tiny bit with the whole running well jumping away… but apology accepted, but promise me that in the future we can talk about things like let’s say… hooking each other up?” she replied as she stumbled over her words while feeling that strange sensation in the pit of her stomach at seeing Lena smile like that, but she couldn’t put a name to it. A second chance though, that was something she could give to Lena Luthor.

“I… I can do that… and I won’t tell…. anyone about you know…” Lena’s voice was again haltering as she could see the struggle on the girl’s pale face.

“That I’m an alien, I know,” she said in a matter of fact tone but, somehow, she’d never seriously thought that Lena would expose her secret.

“Yes, that and whatever you’re doing with our receptionist and for the record… the next time you want to give me chocolates I would prefer them to be delivered in person,” the green-eyed girl teased her gently and laid her head on her shoulder. Unable to stop herself from smelling the girl’s hair she found that it had a fruity scent to it, and a stray lock of raven-black hair tickled her cheek.

“Hey! How was I supposed to know you had security cameras in there?” she protested and felt Lena chuckling against her shoulder as the elevator tried to close on her foot with a quiet clanging sound.

“Us Luthors have plots and plans remember, so what’s with the large and in charge outfit and angry lion hairstyle, thought you were a pretty dresses kind of girl now?” Lena asked and motioned at her jeans, polished shoes and her open at the collar black shirt along with her wild hair.

“Rao where to begin… I… I had what you might call a revelation or something like it… after that fight in the alley and after… well, Eve and a few other things,” she tried to explain how she’d come to the decision to fight her fears and failures instead of hiding from them but she couldn't tell the girl that it was partly thanks to her that she had found the strength to do this. Though she would have to explain Rao and that she was a Kryptonian to Lena when they were somewhere more private.

“Good, because you look much better in a nice dress shirt and showing off all that gym time you put in,” the green-eyed girl mischievously declared with a grin while brushing a single pale finger over the exposed skin of her arm and for the second time today a girl was making her blush. 

“And you looked much better cosplaying as Steve Jobs instead of dressed for Sunday service at a 1950s church,” she teased back and tried to give a raised eyebrow of her own but ended up just looking surprised.

“Well… some people didn’t take too kindly to that wardrobe choice…” Lena admitted and the hurt in the girl’s voice made her want to burst into Lillian Luthor’s office with her eyes blazing.

“Hey, I might not be good at the girly and clubbing stuff, but I’m good at the listening stuff,” she said and squeezed the pale girl’s slender shoulder and Lena really was so very small and fragile.

“Maybe later okay? I don’t want to keep you,” the green-eyed girl begged off from the conversation and giving her shoulder one last squeeze she helped them up from the elevator floor.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said firmly and put both hands on Lena’s shoulders hoping that she was coming off as reassuring. Because even though she had a spaceship worth of problems of her own she did truly want to help the green-eyed girl fight the demons that clearly plagued her.

“What… what do I call you now?” Lena asked while looking up at her with those kryptonite green eyes shimmering like stars and put her soft pale hands on her bare arms. 

They were almost hugging, not to mention that Lena was touching her again and it gave her a pleasant warm sensation all over her body, making her want to hug the girl all the more and tell her that it would all be alright. It was all to brief though and almost at the same time they both dropped their arms as if they both had sensed that this might turn awkward.

“A friend, or Danvers, but I’m happy to still go by Farmgirl, so take your pick,” she answered cheerfully and flashed her biggest smile which made the green-eyed girl laugh.

“In that case, it’s great to finally meet you Danvers and I hope you stick around,” the green-eyed girl said sticking out her pale hand and she grabbed it firmly.

“Likewise, Miss Luthor,” she laughed and kept holding Lena’s soft hand as their eyes met and she felt like she was having a silent conversation with the green-eyed girl until the elevator doors closing again interrupted the moment.

“Oh no, for you it’s always Lena or Lee if you’re feeling brave… now go, but meet me in my office for lunch at eleven thirty and I think you know the way,” Lena laughed and pushed her out of the elevator, which she allowed to happen, as the doors closed between them with her waving goodbye like a goof to which Lena gave a small wiggle of her fingers in reply. 

With the elevator doors closed followed by the whirring sound of it rising up, she looked down at her still waving hand and shook her head. You’re a mess Zor-El, she decided and wandered down to her dungeon for another morning of filing and data entry. Though with Eve’s number on a Post-It note stuck to her messenger bag, fences mended with Lena, and the Slums made a bit safer. So, aside from running down Lex Luthor like she was a linebacker, the last twenty-four hours hadn’t been a total disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awww they're friends again and it only took me 9000+ words and yes Lena keeps doing weird things to Danvers' brain bits when they touch. Yes, this is still a slow burn as our hero currently has her hands full with Eve and being a vigilante and Lena needs some serious therapy before she can even see herself being worthy of someone like Zor-El.
> 
> I'm fond of Pat the diner owner that I introduced here and he kinda just sprung from my mind when I wrote this. Somebody needs to keep Kara fed right?'
> 
> I didn't plan on this chapter being this long either, and I could have cut it into two chapters, but this way you guys get a double-length chapter going into the weekend to enjoy!


	7. Explosive First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danvers, formerly Kara, keeps up her watchful guardianship of the Slums as she is forced to juggle her growing friendship with Lena with her confusing relationship with Eve. Throw in a phone call from big sister Alex into the mix and a run-in with the law with a familiar face while trying to stop a bombing in the Slums it makes for a recipe for an interesting night for our blonde hero.

It was another night on another rooftop in the Suicide Slums, or just the Slums as Pat called them, and Kara fixed the ball cap she had stuffed down over her unruly blonde hair. Peering her blue eyes out over the low rooftops of the neighborhood referred to as Alien Town by the people who called it home, it struck her how it seemed to be in such stark contrast to and really a world away from the gleaming spires of Metropolis just across the water. With nothing requiring her immediate attention, she thought back on her day. 

Lunch with Lena in the pale girl’s office had gone well, great actually, as they had fallen into a familiar rhythm of teasing each other and talking about their days and dreams. The green-eyed girl had been elusive though when it came to the topic of her mother and she was seeing that breaking down the walls Lena had built around herself wouldn’t be done in a day. Still, she felt like she was making progress, and at least their friendship was on the mend. One topic she’d not even tried to bring up was regarding Sam, the single mom that she suspected Lena was dating in secret, but she was sure that with time her friend would also open up about that.

Intergang was laying low tonight, no doubt, or so she hoped, as a result of her little visit to one of their clubhouses last night. This wasn’t flashy heroics like Kal engaged in, but it felt like she was making a difference in some small way even though it was through vigilantism. Checking the time on her phone she wondered if she should pop over to Pat’s and see if the jovial diner owner had any new information for her to follow up on or maybe even better a stack of those yummy syrup-drenched pancakes.

On her phone she saw no new messages from Lena, but there was one from Eve since she’d texted a shy hello to the receptionist just to get the girl’s number saved in her phone. The ever-playful girl had replied back that she’d missed her today, or more to the point the text read, _missed you today daddy_ , with a series of suggestive emojis attached to it and a selfie of the girl smiling coyly up at the camera. 

In the picture Eve was still in the same tight red dress from earlier but the hem had been pulled up to show more of her athletic legs and the girl's breasts were much more noticeable what with them being pushed out like that and whatnot. The pose was actually all kinds of suggestive and she realized upon closer inspection that breasts were quickly becoming one of her favorite things, but it was the daddy part of the message, however, that had left her scratching her head.

Not knowing what to say and still a bit confused at what Eve had called her, though she had been called it before both by that pink-haired girl at that disaster back at the Kryptonite Club and once by Lena at the mall, she opted for politeness and texted back. 

_Thank you and I missed you too,_ lame but polite and sidestepping the whole daddy topic. The reply was a joking statement that read: _Where did they even make someone like you?_ And if only the girl knew. Also, did she miss Eve or just the kissing part? Because she kept worrying about Lena and if anyone had seen them having lunch together in the girl’s office. Pizza, large, triple pepperoni, and she could say this for sure, Lena Luthor knew how to keep a girl fed and happy!

With her mind drifting back to the whole daddy topic, she realized that there was only one person she could go to for advice about this particularly sticky issue, Alex Danvers, her sister, who was still somewhere in parts unknown totally not being trained by a government agency. Doing some quick mental math on the time difference and simply praying that Alex would pick up the phone she rang her sister while sitting down with her back against the tall ledge of the rooftop. Three rings later she heard her sister’s voice.

“What’s the problem?” her sister asked right away, and she smiled while cradling the phone to her cheek.

“Does it have to be a problem for me to call my only sister?” she asked innocently and stretched out her long legs. 

The black jeans had shrunk a tiny bit in the wash and now clung to her legs instead of being loose like before, though she didn’t mind it that much since it meant less material for the people she fought to grab onto.

“At this time of night, yes, and I know your sleep schedule so spill, what’s wrong?” Alex asked and she could hear her sister moving around over the phone and a door opening and closing.

"You’re too smart and it’s a bit creepy that you know my sleep schedule… but the reason I’m calling is that I’ve been going through some… changes,” she tried to explain what had been going on in her life since coming to Metropolis. A lot, the answer was a lot.

“We talking eyes glowing red in the middle of the night changes here, like when you were fifteen, or is it, should I consider cutting my hair short and get bangs so a cute girl might notice me kind of changes?” her sister asked and if she only knew! Though it was cute that Alex was trying to be funny. Biting the proverbial bullet, she decided to just ask straight out about what was on her mind.

"A bit of both, but what's a daddy?" she asked clumsily and bit into her lower lip waiting for the usual dose of sisterly sarcasm to be administered.

“Well you should know you have two," Alex replied like the answer was obvious and she could hear the confusion in her sister’s voice. Taking a deep breath, she prayed hard to Rao that this wouldn’t get her laughed at too much.

"No... what does it mean when a girl calls you... daddy?” she asked putting her face in the palm of her hand at how gosh-darned awkward this was to ask.

“Why are you asking me this Kara?" her sister asked while now sounding serious, but she knew that tone of voice. It was Alex’s I’m serious until I tease you to death tone.

"No reason… just curious," she tried to sound like this was nothing more than an honest question but as usual she wasn’t fooling Alex for a second.

"Kara..." her sister drawled and she could hear the smile in the girl’s voice as she banged the heel of her booted foot against the rooftop a few times out of frustration and also, to work up the courage to just tell the truth.

"It was something I heard, and I was curious about it. You know what, never mind,” she blurted out while still lying and she grimaced as she waited for the famous Alex third-degree interrogation to commence.

"Kara, if you don't tell me right this instant, I'll be there so fast that Clark will think there's another Kryptonian on Earth! Spill it!" Alex demanded but also laughed and she found herself missing her sister dearly.

"Fine! Fine, you scary secret agent you…” she protested before giving up and then took another deep breath before launching into her explanation. 

“There is this girl that works at LexCorp and she's cute and smells like strawberries and she called me daddy..." she mumbled with the last part coming out in a barely audible whisper.

"I'm sorry, I think the connection might be bad on my end... but I didn't quite catch that last part,” Alex asked in a voice that was hovering somewhere between astonishment, laughter, and pride. 

"You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you? Fine, she called me daddy,” she admitted checking her phone and yep the message from Eve was still there along with that picture and yep she could totally be a daddy, whatever that meant, for this girl.

"Kara Zor-El Danvers! Look at you?!" her sister cheered so loudly that it hurt her sensitive ears and she had to move her phone away for a second.

"But what does it mean?" she begged and picked nervously at her black turtleneck where it had gotten dirty again. 

"Oh, my sweet gay summer child! First things first, who is this girl? It’s Lena Luthor, isn’t it? Please tell me it’s Lena Luthor because I might have looked her up and well, hello goth goddess!” Alex asked excitedly and the ear to ear grin her sister was undoubtedly sporting was clear in her voice.

“No… Lena and I are just friends... her name is Eve, she’s… well, do you remember that cheerleader from Midvale High, Amber?” she asked while getting to her feet because her legs were starting to feel stiff from sitting on the roof and also, for some reason, she didn’t care for Alex talking about Lena like that!

“That you gawked at and pined after for the entirety of your senior year, yeah I remember,” Alex replied, and it had been her sister who had repeatedly told her to just talk to that girl. The cheerleader, who had much like Eve sported honey-blonde hair, an amazing body, and a pretty face, though she’d never worked up the courage to find out more about the girl face to face save for her name.

“Yeah, she kinda looks like her, and she’s pretty, like all kinds of pretty and she works as a receptionist and I might have… made out with her… a little bit… maybe a lot...” she said spilling the beans as requested but she also felt proud about it.

“Oh boy,” Alex breathed on the other end of the phone and the fact she’d managed to shock her usually unflappable sister made her grin.

“Oh boy indeed,” she agreed and scanned the streets below for any signs of trouble that might require her attention.

“Like… when and where did this happen and what are you going to do next?” her sister asked and she sighed loudly both out of frustration and because there was nothing going on that required her to go out there and punch it.

“In a supply closet, the other day, and I don’t know... I got her number, but I’m bad at this, like do I ask her out, bring flowers, is this just a casual thing, can I even have a relationship with someone without telling them about the you know what?” she asked a few of her more choice questions that plagued her mind and walked along the edge of the rooftop like a trapeze artist to try to clear her head.

“Woah there, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here! One make-out session in a closet doesn’t mean much and maybe you should… I don’t know... try it a few more times before deciding on anything. Maybe suggest that you continue it back at her place the next time you hook up,” Alex suggested with that same grin in her voice but at least she was being supportive if a bit embarrassingly so.

“Alex!” she laughed but did also feel her cheeks warming up at the idea of having a few more encounters with Eve. Actually, she wouldn’t mind a few more encounters at all, but she didn’t need her sister, of all people, to be giving her tips and tricks on what to do.

“What? It’s the twenty-first century and I know you can be old-fashioned and it’s part of your charm, but there is nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, just be...” her sister protested and she knew what was coming next.

“Just be careful, I know,” she finished for her sister and she did feel kind of bad being out here basically being a vigilante and not telling Alex anything about it, but she was sure her family would never understand.

“Exactly, now what are these other changes you got going on?” Alex asked and she was reminded that her sister really did know her inside and out.

“I’m not wearing dresses anymore, like ever!” she declared and did a short jump to the rooftop across the street just to keep moving and to keep her head clear.

“I’ll alert the media, what else?” her sister pressed her, and she looked down at herself wearing tight black jeans, a black turtleneck, and her steel-toed boots and sighed.

“I’ve started introducing myself as Danvers… and it just feels right… you know,” she tried to explain her thinking behind dropping the Kara name and going by the more androgynous name of Danvers.

“Danvers, not to be biased but it suits you, but what brought this on?” Alex asked and as always, her sister didn’t judge, but she could hear that she was worried, but her sister was always worried.

“I know what you’re going to say, that I should blend in, and be like other girls so people don’t ask questions, but Alex, I don’t feel that I’m like other girls,” she tried to explain why she’d chosen to embrace being different, being taller, being stronger and proud of herself.

“Kara… sorry Danvers, I just want you to be safe and to be happy,” Alex’s voice was low and laced with worry for her and her wellbeing.

“And I am both those things I promise, it’s just that I can’t be that girl you all want me to be, it’s not who I am, and you can still call me Kara,” she whispered back and she felt a solitary tear running down her cheek.

“Want me to come and visit and we can talk it through? I can apply for a weekend pass and…” Alex started saying while being her usual supportive and protective self which made her smile. But she also knew that her sister would in her well-meaning way come and try to talk her out of her decision.

“Alex... you’ve been looking out for me since we met, please believe me when I tell you that I’m fine and don’t go putting your life on hold for my sake,” she said and wiped the single tear away from the black line she’d painted under her eyes. Though tonight the black face paint was more like warpaint with lines under her eyes, one across her forehead and another down her chin since she’d gotten paranoid about being potentially spotted and recognized.

“But you’re too nice for this planet and that will get you into trouble one of these days, but okay, I’ll let it go for now,” her sister replied but she could hear the faint sniffle.

“And you haven’t answered my question yet,” she joked to ease some of the tension since neither of them needed to be crying right now. 

“Fine, fine, want the long or the short answer?” Alex asked after clearing her throat and she didn’t think her sanity could take the long answer.

“Short, please,” she laughed and held the phone closer to her ear like she was about to receive some top-secret information.

“She wants you to ruin her day,” her sister explained in a matter of fact tone of voice and it really didn’t explain much because why would she do that to someone as nice as Eve.

“Why would I ruin her day?” she asked while sounding like the clueless idiot she no doubt was and the groan on the other end of the line was loud and pained.

“You know what, I should try your clueless country girl routine someday because it seems to work wonders… but fine, she wants you to take charge of things, but if she’s calling you daddy already then I’m guessing you’ve already done that haven’t you?” Alex asked and now she blushed hard because that was exactly what she’d done.

“Maybe a little… so anything else that I should do? I mean in my capacity as a… daddy?” she asked, and the word wasn’t sounding as weird anymore. Alright, it still sounded a bit weird, but she was getting used to it.

“First, I never want to hear you refer to yourself as daddy anything ever again, but honestly, just keep being you, polite, gentlewomanly, do that please and thank you stuff and make sure she’s taken care off, if you know what I mean,” Alex tried to explain and she wasn’t sure if you could hear eyebrows wiggling but she could picture them.

“Alex!” she shouted again and that made her sister laugh loudly on the other end of the line before clamping down on it.

“Sorry but there really is no rulebook for it, but I’m proud of you for taking these steps, even if you drive me crazy sometimes,” her sister said, and she felt a smile spreading across her lips.

“Thank you and only sometimes? I need to step up my game, but I shouldn’t keep you much longer since I’m sure you’re breaking some kind of regulation or ten different rules by just talking to me,” she said softly and then her ears picked up some trouble brewing nearby that would require her attention.

“Only a little bit, but it’s worth it, and I will apply for that weekend pass soon, promise,” her sister promised and she really did want to see Alex again but that would mean opening up about a lot of things she wasn’t ready for yet.

“I’ll hold you to that, and thanks for the talk. It was only half as awkward as our birds and the birds one,” she laughed, and that made Alex start to laugh along with her just like when they’d been growing up together. 

“And now there you are, daddying it up in Metropolis,” her sister laughed, and she shook her head and got ready to jump down to street level. If her sister only knew the full extent of what she was doing she really would fly across the country to stop her from doing it.

“Pot and kettle, Alex, pot... and... kettle,” she countered, and she could hear Alex shuffling around on the other end of the line.

“Guilty as charged and proud of it! Now get to bed and I’ll talk to you soon,” Alex said and with a quick goodbye she hung up on her sister, but she wasn’t going to bed anytime soon. 

Though she was going to Google what a daddy was when she was at home later just in case Alex had been feeding her pork pies or more likely sparing her the dirtier details. Letting herself drop a few stories straight down to the street below where she landed with a low thud, she straightened herself up and fixed her trusty Superman ball cap. 

With her hearing guiding her, she walked down the street until she came to a storefront that was closed up for the night, but she could hear hushed voices coming from inside and her nose picked up the distinct smell of gasoline. Time to stop Intergang once again, she thought and clenched her fists as she was about to X-ray the building, but then a voice from behind her stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Hey, tall, dark and skulking! Turn around with your hands where I can see them,” a distinctly female voice with a slight accent commanded her and she slowly turned around with her hands raised in front of her while biting back a Kryptonian curse at her rotten luck.

“I promise I’m here to help,” she said calmly while keeping her voice to a low timbre as she studied the latest headache that she had to deal with in the mess that was her life. 

Staring her down was a police officer, a petite Latinx woman with dark and wavy hair held in a low ponytail, with brown suspicious eyes, which could also be described as smoldering, and she was looking her up and down. Even though the officer was a good head and a half shorter than her, she didn’t seem to be impressed at all, dressed in the navy-blue uniform of the Metropolis City Police Department with one hand on her weapon and the other pointing a flashlight in her face.

“And from where I’m standing it looks like you’re casing the joint,” the officer said while continuing to give her a suspicious look and she had to admit that she really did look quite the suspicious character in her all-black get-up with black warpaint on her face.

“Listen... Officer Sawyer, there are at least four Intergang members in there right now up to no good and you have to let me stop them,” she begged while using her enhanced vision to zoom in on the name-plate attached to the officer’s navy-blue shirt. The young woman was at most five years her senior, and she carried herself in a way that suggested that she took no guff from anyone.

“And how do you know that?” Officer Sawyer asked and looked passed her at the barred storefront to verify if she was telling the truth. Smart cop, pretty too, but mostly smart and getting in her way right now.

“I just do…” she said patiently through clenched teeth not wanting to go announcing to the local beat cop that she was an alien.

“Well excuse me for not trusting someone dressed like a low-rent Gotham vigilante with eye black all over their face, but please step asi…” the officer started walking up to her to inspect the store but was cut off when the first petrol bomb that the Intergang members had been placing went off with a loud bang and the fire quickly spread. 

Some kind of instinct on her part took over and the first thing she did was spend a quarter of a second to scan the building to thankfully find it empty with the four Intergang goons running out of a nearby alleyway. Then she picked up Officer Sawyer in a bridal carry before she could protest and moved her across the street and out of the blast zone. Speed was her greatest asset here in the Slums she was discovering as she was putting the officer down with the woman banging a fist against her chest demanding to be put down. Then she turned around and burst through the front of the store with debris flying everywhere as she counted at least three other bombs attached to timers made out of old cell phones spread around the store.

The fire would spread rapidly to nearby buildings if those went off, and she’d learned the other night that the fire department took their sweet time to get to this part of the city if at all. Pulling in a deep breath, she pursed her lips and blew out the fire already raging in one part of the store before grabbing up the remaining three bombs and running back out the hole she’d created in the front of the building. With the timers ticking down she hugged the bombs close to her chest, closed her eyes and jumped as high into the sky as she could with Officer Sawyer shouting something after her.

Rising high into the sky she curled her body up around the bombs and hoped to absorb the blast the best she could with her body. Kal always made this part look easy, but nothing could have prepared her for the noise of the bombs going off against her chest and then the shockwave knocked her back towards the ground. Next thing she knew, she was falling and spinning out of control right until she hit the pavement hard enough to drive the air from her lungs and create a small Danvers-shaped crater in the middle of the street.

Great job Zor-El, but you could have just pulled out the wires you know or frozen them with your freeze-breath, she reminded herself with hindsight being twenty-twenty with her ears ringing and her vision blurry she tried to get to her feet, but she felt like she was about to throw up for a second and then she felt wobbly. Then she was looking up into a pair of concerned-looking brown eyes. 

“Now, that was something you don’t see every day in this part of town,” Officer Sawyer commented dryly and stuck out her hand which she took and allowed herself to be helped up.

“Told you…” she muttered as she coughed up a puff of smoke and looked down the street seeing the four Intergang goons still running away in the distance.

“Excuse me Officer Sawyer, but I need to go make a citizen's arrest,” she said to the officer and held up her finger for the woman to stay put before taking off at top speed with a gust of wind ruffling the officer’s ponytail.

“You…” Officer Sawyer started protesting but she was back before the woman could finish the sentence. “… can't do that,” the policewoman finished, and she dusted off her hands on the front of her slightly scorched turtleneck before handing her the flashlight she’d dropped.

“They’re by a lamppost down the street all tied up and ready for you,” she declared with a grin and pointed the woman in the direction she’d just come from. 

Not having had the patience to teach these ones any object lessons with her ears still ringing, she instead had simply knocked them out and then she’d used a piece of discarded metal pipe to tie them to a lamppost in a nice little bundle for Officer Sawyer to collect.

“I should arrest you, you know that right?” the officer commented, taking the flashlight back while looking up at her with a hand on her hip in a classic power pose that she knew all too well, but there was an ever so slightly friendlier tone to her voice now.

“And who knows maybe I might let you,” she replied smoothly and honestly had no idea where that amount of swagger and cockiness had come from, but she liked it.

“You’re lucky you’re cute, got a name?” Officer Sawyer asked with a hint of a smile while giving her a measured look up and down again and she got that irrational feeling that she was being checked out or at least evaluated as a potential threat.

“Why? Tall, dark, and skulky is not good enough for you?” she asked back but flubbed her words slightly while crossing her arms over her chest and she put her current bravado down to being recently blown up and then becoming very well acquainted with the ground, but this was also where the paranoia the Danvers had instilled in her actually came in handy too. Since she didn’t need the local law enforcement agencies to know her name, not if she wanted to keep Kal or Lois from finding out about her little side gig in vigilantism.

“Play it like that if you want… Skulky,” the officer actually laughed and then turned around to look at something on the ground. 

“What… what are you doing?” she asked in confusion and started looking at the ground too while wondering what she was missing out on. Maybe she should X-ray it or something.

“Oh nothing, just inspecting the crime scene for oh I don’t know, however long it takes you to fly away,” the officer said nonchalantly and it dawned on her that she was being let go with a warning and being teased.

“Thank you,” she politely nodded, and the woman looked back at her over her shoulder and there was something about the look in her eyes that she couldn’t place.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” the young Latinx cop asked while again giving her that measured look with those brown eyes that spoke volumes about her intelligence and she just gave the officer a small salute.

“Nope, but I think I’m liking it here, see you around, Officer Sawyer,” she said with a bright smile and crouched down before jumping straight back without turning around onto a nearby rooftop fully aware that she was being a bit of a show-off for the officer’s benefit. Say what you want about Metropolis, but she was finding out that it did have a higher than usual population of pretty and smart women, but that was fine in her book. 

With her stomach growling, she watched from a nearby rooftop as Officer Sawyer called in a patty wagon to collect the trussed up Intergang members while she also listened in on the chatter between the young cop and the backup when it arrived. So far Officer Sawyer had been the only police presence she’d encountered or even seen around the Slums and that was enough to pique her curiosity.

“Found them like this, but nobody is talking of course,” Officer Sawyer lied through her teeth and that made her smile.

“Should we even bother to process them, they’ll just be out again by tomorrow,” one of the officer’s that had arrived with the patty wagon asked and she could see Officer Sawyer bristling at that comment.

“We do our job,” the young woman declared firmly, and she decided that even though she was going to avoid this cop like the plague, that she liked her already.

“Why do you even take this patrol Sawyer and is this… is this bent metal?” another cop asked while trying to pull at the metal pipe she’d wrapped around the Intergang goons.

“Because we are sworn to protect and serve and don’t be an idiot go get the toolbox out of the back of the car, you’re never going to pull that off them by yourself,” Officer Sawyer stated firmly and there was passion in the girl’s voice and damn it, she had guts. 

Satisfied that the young officer would be alright and with her stomach growling louder she covered the distance back to Pat’s Diner in a few jumps with the landings starting to become much easier now that she was getting the hang of this vigilante business. Landing with a soft thud outside the diner she looked around before stepping inside and as always took off her ball cap before shaking out her hair.

“Pat? You here, sir?” she called out and looked around the seemingly always empty diner before hearing gentle snoring coming from one of the booths.

Poking her head into the booth she saw the grey-haired owner of the place dozing over a newspaper with a half-filled in crossword-puzzle and a discarded broom leaning against the red and white checkered table. Deciding to let the man rest a bit she stuffed her ball cap into the back pocket of her jeans, grabbed the broom and began to sweep the floors.

“Who’s there?” Pat eventually grumbled and she could hear the low hum of the Daxamite plasma-pistol powering up while she was wiping down the countertop with the cleanest rag she could find.

“Calm down Pat, it’s just me,” she assured him and watched him emerge bleary-eyed from the booth while stuffing the weapon into the front of his apron.

“Krypton Girl! What brings you back around to my humble diner?” he declared and looked around the now nearly spotless diner that she’d spent the last half an hour cleaning while he dozed.

“Thought I’d take you up on that offer,” she admitted shyly and that made the broad and grey-haired man grin and wipe his hands on the front of his apron.

“One superhero-sized pancake stack coming right up, with bacon this time,” he declared and made his way behind the counter as he pulled a bowl of pancake batter from a small fridge.

“Thank you, say I ran into this police officer named Sawyer earlier, do you know anything about her?” she asked and put the rag away before taking what was becoming her usual seat at the counter.

“That would be Mags,” Pat grumbled from behind the counter as the smell of cooking pancakes accompanied by the hiss of the batter hitting the hotplate filled the small diner.

“Mags?” she asked and got her phone out to give Eve an overdue reply since she’d gotten distracted by being slightly blown up and to a degree by Officer Sawyer.

 _Kansas via the West Coast actually,_ she texted the girl back about where she was from with a few smileys thrown in for good measure since she knew she was being very late at replying.

“Officer Maggie Sawyer, three years on the force and she’s been coming around here every so often for the past year or so,” he explained, and at least now she had a first name for the brown-eyed girl. No correction, the brown-eyed ballsy Latinx police officer.

“You say that like it’s a rare thing,” she admitted and watched the stack of pancakes grow taller and taller.

“The only time the police ever come into the Slums these days is in full riot gear and in force,” he explained with his voice sounding gruff and angry as he threw some bacon on the hotplate with a loud sizzle and pop. 

“But not Officer Sawyer?” she asked, finding herself even more intrigued by the woman now as she checked on the news to see if they had reported on the explosion in the sky over the Slums, but so far there was nothing about it that she could find.

“She’s young, idealistic and headstrong, but she’ll learn eventually, they all do,” Pat replied, sounding almost sad for the young officer as he placed the stack of pancakes along with a few strips of bacon and a green glass bottle of Coke in front of her with a smile.

“And you know all this why?” she asked while picking up a slice of crispy bacon and biting into it while enjoying the salty crunchiness of it.

“Like I said I’m a local fixture and who knows maybe I have a soft spot for tough girls who want to be heroes,” he laughed while being as elusive as ever in his answers.

“And you feed them all pancakes?” she asked with a small smile as she started digging into said pancakes with her trusty fork.

“Don’t you worry, your secret is safe with me Kryptonian and Mags will only take a cup of coffee to go, black with double cream,” he assured her and winked at her before again looking around the now much cleaner diner. 

“Though I might have to hire you if you keep this up,” he laughed at seeing the clean-up work she’d done even though it had been nothing compared to cleaning out the barn at the Kent Farm.

“All in an honest day's work, well that and getting blown up,” she sighed and took a big forkful of pancakes to soothe her slightly wounded pride.

“Ha! So that’s what that boom was, it almost woke me up from my nap. Was it Intergang?” he chuckled and didn’t seem phased by the fact that she had been mildly exploded.

“Yep it was Intergang again, those guys are starting to really get on my nerves,” she grumbled and pointed the fork to the small burn mark on the front of her black turtleneck.

“Did you catch them?” Pat asked pointedly and she looked up with a mouth full of pancakes and nodded happily.

“Good,” he declared and gave her a thankful smile as she swallowed her latest mouthful before speaking. It was very impolite to speak with your mouth full after all.

“Left them for Officer Sawyer to deal with… hey, maybe I should have put a big red bow on them!” she explained while grinning and took a long sip from the glass bottle of Coke.

“Oh, she wouldn’t like that, she’s a tough cookie that one and I’m amazed she didn’t haul you off down to the station too,” Pat commented with a grin and she put the bottle down with a wicked grin on her lips.

“She threatened to do that, but she’s just got to get used to having me around,” she declared and picked up another slice of bacon that she popped into her mouth victoriously.

“Then I don’t think Alien Town is big enough for the two of you,” he laughed as she took the chance to pull out a few bills from her pocket that had somehow survived the evening and place them on the counter.

“Now I told you...” Pat started to protest but she gave him her sunniest smile and that seemed to silence him at least.

“Please, I insist, and Pa would never let me hear the end of it if I didn’t pay my own way,” she said softly and pushed the money across the counter as payment for her meal.

“Fine, but only because we can’t have you upsetting your Pa,” he agreed reluctantly and stuffed the bills into the front of his apron.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile and set about finishing off her plate with gusto as being blown up really did cause one to work up quite an appetite.

After making pleasant small talk with Pat for a bit she reluctantly knew she had to get home and get ready for tomorrow. After a few long jumps over Metropolis City’s tall buildings, she was crawling in through her bedroom window with Lois still being on assignment in Gotham and Clark somewhere off-world with the official story being that he was deep undercover somewhere in the Middle-East. Kicking off her black boots she then slowly stripped out of her all-black outfit and decided that a nice relaxing bath would be in order after tonight.

Once she was laying in the hot water surrounded by bubbles with her phone in front of her nose she decided that even though Alex had answered her question about what a daddy was, she should really do some research of her own and what she found made her blush furiously but also drove her to keep reading. 

“Oh my,” she blurted out and almost dropped the phone into the water she was luxuriating in, but she kept tapping away at it as she dove deeper into her research.

“Oh, Great Krypton’s ghost,” she gasped when she found some educational videos after turning off the adult filter for her searches and her eyes widened, was this what Eve wanted?

Closing down a particularly lurid video as the moans from it filled the bathroom, she opened up her notes app and started making bullet points about how she should act and what she should do. A good scientist or a good reporter for that matter keeps notes she’d always been taught and being in unfamiliar territory this called for some serious note-taking.

“Number one, be polite,” she said to herself and wrote it out while chewing on her bottom lip while thinking what else she could do to fulfill this role that she was finding herself in.

“Be protective, take charge,” she kept saying the words as she typed them out and stuck her toes up out of the bubbles in the bathtub and wiggled them around.

“Be respectful, be a giver, be proud, I can do that,” she said to herself and almost without thinking she opened up the picture that Eve had sent her again and speaking of the pale-blue eyed devil a message arrived.

 _Well you’re something else no matter where you’re from,_ the message read with a blushing smiley face emoji attached to it. 

_Thank you, do you want to meet up at work tomorrow,_ she typed out her message and hit send before going back to her notes and research.

Then she made the mistake of searching for the meaning of the term ruining someone’s day without the adult search filters on and again she was blushing, but also kinda liking what she found. Making a few more notes based on the technique she was observing she again almost dropped her phone when it vibrated.

 _Yes please! Time and place?_ The reply from Eve read followed by a kissy face emoji and she had to steel herself before replying because this wouldn’t be a spontaneous thing, no this was entirely planned. This was her taking charge and it was terrifying.

 _Noon, file storage room 42, basement level two and I’ve been thinking about you,_ she typed but again she couldn’t decide if it was the kisses or the girl herself that she’d been thinking about more.

 _Oh you liked what you saw then?_ the reply read, and she couldn’t stop herself from looking at the picture yet again. Zor-El you’re being a bit of a horndog here, that annoying voice in the back of her head said teasingly.

 _Yes quite a lot,_ she wrote back once again opting for being earnest and the nice thing about doing this over the phone was that she was much braver than in person.

 _Want to see more,_ the next text read, and she had a short internal debate with herself. The polite thing would be to say yes but you don’t have to, but something a bit more primal inside of her was shouting gimme!

 _Yes and thank you but only if it’s no bother,_ she typed and groaned at herself when she hit send on that particular message.

 _Enjoy daddy and I can’t wait until tomorrow,_ the next message popped up a few minutes later and it was Eve, on her back, in bed, in a white Metropolis University t-shirt and she was pulling down the neckline of it. On top of the suggestive pose, all that honey-blonde hair was like a halo around the girl’s head as those pale-blue eyes looked straight into the camera and she suddenly found it very hard to breathe.

 _Wow you’re going to get me into so much trouble,_ she wrote back and then the phone vibrated with a message from Lena.

 _Can we talk? I saw something on the news that’s got me worried…_ the message from her green-eyed friend read. 

_Sure, what’s wrong?_ she texted back to Lena right away and had to really focus now because juggling the two girls wasn’t easy. Especially with the pictures that Eve was sending her way coupled with Lena’s green eyes staring at her from the pale girl’s profile picture.

 _Well not on the news but a friend told me there had been an explosion in the Suicide Slums and well I hacked some security footage and we need to talk about you know what..._ the message from Lena read and she cursed herself from not having been more careful with the bombs, but she trusted her friend to keep her secret.

 _Tomorrow, my dungeon after lunch?_ She wrote back jokingly without thinking and at the same time a vibration from a new message filled her with even more panic.

 _Am I really that much trouble?_ It was Eve, along with another picture and the girl really did look good on camera she had to admit. Especially when pouting at it and pretending to be innocent with the t-shirt now stretched over her ample chest.

 _Yes, yes you are Miss Teschmacher,_ she wrote back to the receptionist while laughing nervously to no one but herself but darn it that girl's name wasn't easy to type. 

_It’s a date! But you are okay, right?_ The next message from Lena read and she was feeling a tiny bit overwhelmed from talking to them both at once like this.

 _Being polite now are we? Can’t wait to see you,_ the message from Eve read and she remembered that picture she’d snapped in front of the mirror when getting ready for work. Was she brave enough? Could she be brave enough? It would be a big step, and nobody had ever seen her like that before except for maybe Lena at the gym.

 _Perfect and yes I’m fine you know that us Farmgirls are made out of sturdy stuff,_ she wrote back to Lena and smiled at how caring the green-eyed girl was being.

 _Well maybe this will tide you over until then,_ she then wrote to Eve and attached the picture of herself in front of the mirror, wearing jeans, with her shirt open showing off her muscular stomach and just a hint of her small breasts and hit send before she had the chance to chicken out.

 _You’re incredible you know that and I’m glad to know that you’re alright_ , the message from Lena read and she found herself smiling brightly while squirming happily in the bath that sent bubbles flying.

 _You can’t be real! Are those real? Oh, I might do something silly right now thanks to you…_ the message from Eve read and she blinked a few times to get her bearings straight. Was Eve suggesting that she might masturbate? To her picture? That made her rub her thighs together nervously.

 _You’re very sweet when you want to be Lee,_ she typed back to Lena first, using the nickname the pale-skinned girl had suggested when they’d made amends, while also trying to calm herself down a bit before she would reply to Eve’s much more suggestive message.

 _Very real and please don’t stop on my account..._ she ended up typing to the pretty receptionist even though it made her blush from the top of her head and all the way down to her chest.

 _Just looking out for my hero, can’t wait to see you to make sure that you’re alright though,_ Lena’s message vibrated in her phone and that filled her with that strange but pleasant warmth she’d felt a few times before around the green-eyed girl.

 _As you wish..._ Eve’s message read and she found herself licking her lips as she could only imagine what the pretty receptionist was doing as she wrote back to Lena.

 _I’m always around for you if you need me, you know that right?_ She typed to the green-eyed girl though right now that was technically not true as she was splitting her attention between the two girls in her life and it was a bit nerve-racking, yet she couldn’t stop herself either.

Not wanting to be impolite to Eve she closed her eyes trying to figure out what she should say, or well type, in this situation. What would she do? If she was there with the girl right now, she pondered before gripping her phone tightly.

 _Be gentle Miss Teschmacher but remember who is in charge, tell me who is,_ she typed out and it felt silly, a bit weird, but also who was she kidding, she had enjoyed being in charge the other day so she hit send.

 _You are!_ A brief message from Eve popped up on her screen and she felt both her ego soaring and also a little bit flustered and goofy.

 _Good girl,_ she wrote without thinking and hit send so there was no taking it back as she wondered if Lena had gone to bed already with the green-eyed girl having gone silent.

This was all giving her a mixture of a headache and being turned on at the same time. Being friendly with Lena while at the same time, for the lack of a better term, sexting with Eve made her feel a little bit guilty but then both girls effectively fried her brain with two messages that arrived seconds apart.

 _That was so good! Thank you, I’m sleepy now but tomorrow I want you to pin me down like last time,_ Eve’s message read, and she gulped at the implication of those words before reading Lena’s text.

 _I feel like I can trust you and I hope you will trust me,_ the message from Lena read and though not as suggestive it caused her heart to skip a beat.

Then the battery low indicator flashed on her phone and she panicked trying to get quick messages out at once to both girls. Stupid old phone, stupid horny Zor-El, stupid not just going to bed but instead you keep getting yourself into messes like this, she cursed herself.

 _Sorry, phone dying but I look forward to tomorrow so much,_ she texted to both girls and hit sent as fast as she could and as awkward as that was she was kinda happy for the out her old and dying phone was providing her with.

Pulling herself out of the bathtub with water dripping down her muscular frame, she groaned and dried herself off as she wondered how she kept getting herself into these situations. Being Danvers was proving much more complicated than just being plain old Kara Danvers, but she reminded herself that life wasn’t always easy and that she wasn’t going to back down, not now, not when she was finally embracing simply being herself.

Though being herself right now meant juggling messages from two very different but equally pretty girls blowing up her phone at the same time while also spending her evening exchanging barbs with Officer Sawyer who had those smoldering brown eyes. That hadn’t been the plan, but for now, it was her life. Pulling on a soft pair of red boxers she crawled into her bed and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be interesting, to say the least.

* * *

Somewhere underneath the Suicide Slums in an abandoned subway station that had seen its glory days in the 1940s, three people were gathered for sinister purposes. The rule was no faces, no names, and no phones as they stood spread out in an old subway car while keeping a respectful and somewhat disdainful distance from each other.

“The plan isn’t moving fast enough, but maybe this will help,” a gruff voice of a man wearing a black trench coat and a fedora announced and slid a metal briefcase across the dusty floor.

“Well your plan didn’t account for some crazy alien chick running around Alien Town playing superhero,” another shriller voice complained as its owner retrieved the briefcase.

“Oh, I’m sure you and your associates can deal with one misguided alien,” the third figure with a much more feminine voice spoke up from the back of the subway car and the man, a kid really, clutching the briefcase gulped.

“Of course, ma’am, we’ll take care of it, ma’am,” he promised nervously and started backing away into the shadows again.

“See that you do young man, we’ve invested a great deal in your little Intergang and it would be a shame if we were forced to liquefy our investment,” the woman still shrouded in shadows spoke coolly.

“No, but this chick she’s for real, like fast, strong, dresses like a dude while doing that whole noble thing with a Superman cap on her head,” the kid blurted out and that seemed to pique the woman’s interest as she pulled out a glowing green dagger from her clutch before walking over to the now shaking Intergang member.

“But… we’ll take care of it, no need to be hasty, right?” he promised holding up the metal briefcase almost like a shield against the black-dressed woman whose face was hidden behind a hat with a veil.

“Such commitment to the cause from you, here have this as a token of good faith in case you run into… what did you call her again? Ah yes, the crazy alien chick,” the woman declared and pulled his jacket open before dropping the knife into its inside pocket and then she almost in a motherly fashion straightened his clothes.

“Thank you,” he gulped and seemed to shrink away under the woman’s icy gaze as he kept hugging the briefcase for dear life.

“Good boy, now run along and share that Compound-K with your little Intergang friends,” she told him almost sweetly and patted him on the cheek. 

Not needing to be told twice the young punk scurried away with his precious cargo and the woman sighed while accepting a handkerchief from her associate to wipe her hands clean before throwing it on the floor in disgust.

“Think they’ll stick to the plan?” the man asked dubiously and watched the retreating figure scurrying away into the darkness.

“All they need to do is drive those filthy aliens out and then we can move ahead with the project, and this… alien won’t be holding up the time table for much longer,” she declared and turned on her heel to march out of the dusty and derelict station.

“And you think she’s… like him?” the man asked with a hint of fear in his voice while following behind her with his dark trench coat billowing around his legs as the woman chuckled.

“Strong, fast, noble, it all sounds awfully familiar doesn’t it, but in any case, a knife is a knife,” she laughed an evil little laugh that echoed in the abandoned tunnels while at home an unknowing, but indeed noble and strong Zor-El slept the sleep of the peaceful and the just.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Maggie Sawyer has entered the fic! Will she be an ally or a thorn in our brave hero's side? Will Eve come to visit Kara at LexCorp for some daddy time? Is Lena really dating Sam? Find out next time on The Internship! 
> 
> So this chapter I shifted the focus a bit, as you may have noticed, Danvers is now a bit more settled in who she is and now is starting to realize maybe a bit more that, hey girls are really pretty! But we actually did get some plot too so I'll give my self a high-five for that and I admit I'm really loving building this world, introducing characters with a twist and slow-burning the hell out of the supercorp stuff just to annoy you guys!


	8. The Danvers Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danvers, sometimes still going by Kara and for now only to herself by Zor-El finds something buried deep in the files she's working with at LexCorp that gives her cause to worry, however before she can act on that information she has a first time experience in an encounter with Eve Teschmacher while also slowly becoming closer with Lena Luthor before jumping to conclusions that might end up costing her dearly. The baby butch with brain struggles are just beginning and her life isn't getting any simpler or less messy.

Cursing her luck at having overslept, Danvers, sometimes still going by Kara and for now only to herself by Zor-El, rushed out of the doors of the number seven bus as soon as they opened. The number seven bus was, for the record, not the correct bus to take if you were in a hurry to get to work in downtown Metropolis, but ignoring that fact she raced toward the LexCorp building with her scuffed-up old sneakers beating a frantic rhythm against the ground. 

Having dressed in a hurried panic that morning, since her phone being dead from the night before had meant no alarm for her, she wore her white dress shirt with no tank top or bra on underneath hastily tucked into the same tight black jeans she’d worn while out on patrol the night before. As she ran, she tried to remember how Lois had taught her to tie the red tie she had borrowed from her cousin’s closet again.

“The rabbit ran around the tree…” she muttered under her breath as her unruly mane of blonde hair stuck up in all directions since she’d fallen asleep with it still damp from her late-night bath that had also included sexting with a certain Eve Teschmacher.

“There is no tree!” she despaired and ended up tying the red silk tie loosely around her shirt collar giving herself a slightly punky look or at least that’s what she hoped it would look like.

“Hair!” she remembered in a panic and pulled out a well-worn scrunchy that was close to snapping, then she gathered the messy mane up in a tight bun at the back of her head with a few strands escaping and falling in front of her blue eyes.

“Glasses! Frick!” she cursed at seeing the strands of hair as she kept running and patted down her clothes before stuffing her hand down into her old messenger bag at her side while praying that she had a spare pair in there somewhere.

“Come on, come on, can’t do this without them,” she muttered as she barreled past a group of suited executives on their way to work in the nearby skyscrapers.

“Sorry!” she called back over her shoulder after almost knocking two of them over and her fingertips brushed against what she hoped were her glasses.

“Yes!” she declared triumphantly while pulling out the old thick-rimmed glasses that she kept for emergencies and while still running placing them on her nose.

Now looking semi-presentable she could think back on the night before. Last night had been something else, both Lena and Eve had texted her something that did weird things to her brain bits even though the context of each girl’s message had been wildly different. Lena trusted her, Eve wanted her, and she was, well right now she was late!

Seeing the LexCorp building looming larger in front of her, she slowed down to a jog as she blew a stubborn lock of blonde hair out of her face, straightened her loose tie somewhat and then entered the bustling lobby of the LexCorp building hopefully looking more put together than she felt like.

Glancing over at the receptionist desk she could see that Miss Teschmacher was busy both on the phone looking cute and put together with a headset on her head while also trying to give someone directions using her nail file as a pointer. Opting to smile in the girl’s direction as she passed by, she was rewarded by a somewhat shy look from the pretty receptionist that again did all sorts of weird things to her insides.

Walking with a purpose and hopefully not looking like she’d overslept by almost an hour she rode the elevator down to her filing-dungeon and sat down with a heavy sigh in the chair in front of her computer. Alright, maybe staying up all night fighting crime wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped for and no amount of morning sunshine or leftover pizza could make up for lost sleep in the long run. 

Pulling out a dusty filing box marked Medical Research Patents from the shelf she was working her way through this week, she started reading over the documents within it before scanning them into the LexCorp database. This had been her routine every day since she had started this internship, which now felt like a lifetime ago, but in reality, it had only been a couple of weeks ago when she’d walked into this building for the first time and met Lena with her smirks, raised eyebrows, audible chocolate voice and dancing green eyes and of course unbeknownst to her at the time, Miss Teschmacher with her pale-blue eyes, stunning looks and yep both girls were doing things to her she didn’t quite know how to process.

Having made an uneasy peace with who she was as a person, though she didn’t have all the answers yet on that front, it still left her with the sticky subject of her own sexuality. What did she want, was it Eve calling her daddy, was it something more regular if there even was such a thing, a simple friendship with a likeminded person, or maybe she should just avoid these complications with pretty girls that she kept getting into? Since in the words of both the Kents and the Danvers she had to be careful. 

Growling in frustration she shook her head and focusing instead on her job she pushed the thoughts of pretty-eyed girls and about her own identity out of her mind, for now. Read the documents, scan the documents into the system, fix errors, stamp documents, and then return to box, rinse, and repeat. She’d even made a little song in her head about how the process went that she’d hum while doing it to make the hours pass by faster. But today something caught her eye, it was at the bottom of one of the patents, almost faded with age. 

“Compound-K,” she read in a hushed voice and pulled off her glasses as she started to go through the files in the box with much more interest.

“Research into the medical application of the extraterrestrial mineral codenamed Compound-K!” she gasped and leafed through the yellowed pages and she saw that this research went back years, decades even, right back to when Kal had arrived on Earth ahead of her thanks to her spaceship getting trapped in the Phantom Zone on the way to Earth.

“What is this?” she muttered and chewed on the arm of her glasses as her blue eyes scanned the yellowed pages with keen interest.

“Research discontinued due to adverse health effects discovered during testing despite promising results,” she read the scribbled notes on the margins and tried to make sense of all of this.

Looking around the empty storage room, she pulled out her phone, but the thing was still dead, meaning that she couldn’t take pictures of the documents to look at later in private. Reading over the patents she decided instead to memorize them. It was one of her talents that was totally unrelated to Earth’s yellow Sun, her near-perfect memory and it would do for now.

“LuthorCorp, but this place hasn’t been called that in over a decade,” she muttered at seeing the header of the form while talking to herself and remembering the pamphlet that had come with her acceptance letter into the internship program. 

The pamphlet had told the story of how Lionel Luthor had graciously stepped down to let his son Lex take over the reins of the company and allowed it to be renamed to reflect the future. Though judging by Lena’s often uttered comment about the Luthors having plots and plans, she suspected that there was more to it than that. Making a mental note about talking to Lena about that little bit of history next time they had lunch she paged through the rest of the medical jargon trying her best to commit as much as she could to memory.

Hearing footsteps that spooked her, although from two stories up, she hurriedly scanned the documents into the system and did her job, but when she returned the box to the shelves she made sure to remember where it was so she could photograph the patents once her phone decided that it wanted to play nice. Always make sure you have evidence, was what Lois had taught her and on the surface, this stuff sounded pretty damning. 

Chewing on the arm of her thick-rimmed glasses she put her feet up on her desk. This couldn’t be a coincidence, right? Those Intergang members had been huffing something called Compound-K after all. Corporate espionage maybe? No way LexCorp would be behind them, right? She knew that Lex Luthor and Clark were old friends, though Clark had been pretty mum on how they knew each other, and she was sure Mister Luthor didn’t know about Clark’s alter-ego. Add to that the fact that the research was old, and the patents never explicitly stated Kryptonite she hesitated to lay the blame at Mister Luthor’s feet, but the connection to Intergang was what worried her the most. 

Yes, she knew about Kryptonite, though like with many things it had been thanks to her own snooping around in the Danvers’ notes on the mineral, and Kal had only mentioned it once and had told her to run away if she ever saw it. Before she could mull it over, a gentle knock at the door caused her to almost fall out of her chair as she glanced at the clock on the computer screen that read ten minutes to noon. 

Eve! She’d asked Eve to come to see her on the receptionist’s lunch break and she’d totally forgotten about it. Rushing around the storage room she made sure nothing looked suspicious, put her glasses back on, and fixed her tie before opening the door to reveal a shyly smiling Eve Teschmacher. Oh boy, she thought at the sight and she knew one thing for sure. Pretty girls were her weakness.

“Hi,” the pretty receptionist whispered and even though the girl’s smile was shy, there was a look to her pale-blue eyes that struck her as somewhere between playful and dare she think it, submissive.

“Miss Teschmacher,” she said and found herself grinning even though her heart was close to hammering its way out of her chest. Remember the notes from last night, she reminded herself.

“Arriving as ordered,” Eve murmured, and she almost forgot about the revelation in the patents she’d just discovered. In fact, the arrival of the receptionist compounded with the thrill of sneaking around discovering secret documents was having a pleasant effect on her right then.

“Come in, please, we don’t have long,” she offered politely but lowered the timbre of her voice a little which made the girl smile but even with the notes she’d taken last night she was still thoroughly out of her element here.

“I like the tie today,” Eve teased her and pulled at the loose red tie she had around her neck while brushing past her into the storage room with heels clicking on the floor. Turning around as she was being led by her tie and putting her hands on the girl’s hips the door closed behind them with a gentle bang and there was a finality to the sound. No going back now Zor-El.

“It felt… appropriate,” she murmured, though she’d honestly been in a rush that morning, and allowed herself to look Eve up and down while squeezing her hips. 

The honey-blonde receptionist was wearing a knee-length blue dress today with matching heels, and she decided that she liked the color blue on Eve Teschmacher very much. Like seemingly everything the girl wore the dress clung to her athletic body while leaving her arms bare and coming up to a choker around her neck. Time to buck up Zor-El she came here for a reason, she reminded herself.

“You were very good last night,” she whispered leaning in and with Eve still holding onto her tie she kissed the girl just below the ear. The notes... stick to the notes Zor-El and you’ll be fine.

“Thank you...” the pretty receptionist moaned quietly as she pushed her back against the desk while being careful not to get carried away just yet, but the smell of Eve’s perfume drew her lips to the girl’s slender neck as it had before.

“Go on, you can say it,” she gently murmured while kissing her way down the curve of the girl’s neck. This little trick, however, she’d discovered all by herself in the supply closet and it was working wonders.

“Daddy…” Eve groaned as she moved her hands around to squeeze her butt roughly, and she could feel the girl gripping the red tie tightly in her hands as she found the spot on her neck where she could feel her rapid pulse and kissed it.

With both hands stroking and squeezing the girl’s athletic butt she felt soft hands pawing at her chest. The familiar pang of panic hit her, but she reminded herself that she was in charge and she gently but firmly took Eve’s hands and like last time pinned them above the girl’s head making her groan quietly in a mix of frustration and pleasure.

“Comfortable?” she asked and looked into the girl pale-blue eyes unable to stop herself from grinning. With her heart still pounding in her chest and the notes from the night before swirling and blurring in her head, she waited for Eve to answer.

The honey-blonde nodded back at her with a demure smile on her pink lips and she leaned in slowly before kissing her, taking her time unlike during their rushed encounter in the supply closet the other day. Enjoying the feel of soft pink lips against hers, she could hear Eve’s pulse racing and feel the warmth radiating from her body. The pretty receptionist kissed her back right away while squirming slightly in her grip and she licked along the girl’s strawberry tasting lips before growing bolder and pushing her tongue past them.

Holding the girl’s hands above her head with one hand carefully clasping her wrists she gathered her bravery, gave her butt a spank and then started stroking up her thigh with her free hand and it was so soft and smooth that she felt like she might explode. Girls were wonderfully soft, she decided yet again and that she wanted more. 

Eve yelped at the spank and then her tongue playfully pushed back against hers as they made out and she felt warm all over as she pushed the receptionist’s dress up her long and toned legs. It was so warm in fact that her glasses were fogging up in the poorly ventilated space and in a moment of madness she pulled them off, letting go of the girl’s hands but Eve kept them above her head obediently. Unable to resist any longer she put her hand on Eve’s breast and gently played with it through the blue fabric of the dress while still stroking her thigh and pushing the dress up ever higher until she glimpsed a hint of blue panties.

“Yes… you can take it off,” the girl whimpered with her hands on the back of her head and the fact she understood their unspoken rules gave her such a thrill.

“Stay still,” she ordered her and again Eve gave a shy nod and kept her hands behind her head as she reached around and slowly unzipped the back of the girl’s blue dress before carefully peeling it away from her front to expose a matching blue bra.

“Good girl,” she breathed out at seeing Eve’s breasts and the girl stood there almost at attention waiting for her to act while giving her a look that all but shouted: So what are you going to do next Danvers?

After being distracted by the sight of the tantalizing tan-lines on Eve’s skin, she put one calloused hand over the girl’s round breast and she couldn’t help but to play with the soft yet firm flesh, by stroking her thumb over the exposed skin before flicking it over the girl’s nipple making her give a shuttering moan. Then she leaned in and sucked on all that tempting soft and tan skin before tracing her tongue along the tan-lines on the girl’s chest. It got her so excited that she pushed Eve against the desk with enough force to shift it backward underneath them.

“I think… daddy found something she really likes,” Eve teased her softly and she could only nod as she traced the tan-lines on the girl’s skin with her tongue and fingertips. This time putting her near-perfect memory to work memorizing every inch of the girl’s body. Was that a freckle on her shoulder? Moving her lips, she kissed it and yep definitely a freckle.

“You are beautiful,” she whispered truthfully and with her voice rumbling deep from within her chest which caused Eve to stammer as those sparkling pale-blue eyes met hers.

“You’re… too nice…” the pretty girl gasped because she was slowly working her hand up her thigh, the dress having already been pushed up exposing the crotch of her blue panties while she was busy with her breasts. Score one for multi-tasking!

Pressing closer to Eve, effectively pinning her between herself and the desk she started stroking her inner-thigh harder while sucking greedily on a quickly hardening nipple through the lacy fabric of the bra. Making the girl throw her head back while grabbing onto the desk and she let out a near-silent moan toward the ceiling. The sound was like music to her sensitive ears combined with the knowledge that she, who had been clumsy old Kara Danvers, was the reason behind it.

“Is this what you were thinking about last night?” she asked, no she gently demanded it from the girl as she let her hand slide up and she cupped the front of her blue underwear with one hand with the dress now bundled up around the girl’s waist. It felt very warm and for a moment she lost her train of thought.

“Yes…” Eve hissed under her breath and she started gently rubbing between the pretty receptionist's legs. Both wanting to take her time but also being keenly aware of their compromising location. 

Kissing her hard this time she kept Eve pinned against the desk while running her fingers through her honey-blonde hair and finding her bravery she stuffed her hand roughly down the front of her underwear feeling only smooth, warm and wet skin there. Eve tried to mumble something into the kiss, but she couldn’t make it out because her head was swimming now, and Rao, this felt amazing.

Letting her fingers explore, she ran them up and down the girl’s wet slit and this was a first for her and the notes went almost completely out the window as she allowed her self-control to slip a tiny bit as she teased the pretty receptionist. That earned her a begging whine as she felt around for that wet entrance into the girl’s hot core with the tips of her fingers. Not feeling awkward at all, but instead like she was at the top of the world she sucked on Eve’s tongue.

Finally breaking their kiss to let the poor girl breathe and to hear her moan, she roughly pulled the girl’s bra down causing her firm breasts to pop free and her mouth was on them in an instant. Greedily sucking, tasting, and teasing with her lips and tongue which made the girl let out a high-pitched whine as she tried not to be too loud. 

Feeling Eve humping against her hand she gathered up her courage before she thrust two fingers inside the molten wetness between her legs and looked up at Eve’s flushed and very pretty face. Digging through her mental notes with considerable difficulty she decided to be very brave by the virtue of her next few words.

"That's very good Miss Teschmacher, now who is in charge babygirl? You can say it,” she urged her, and she wanted to hear it, needed to hear it and while pressing her thumb against the girl’s clit while curling up her fingers she got her answer.

“You… you… you are!” Eve gasped and arched against her hand while she couldn’t help but to grin. 

Pressing herself against Eve’s lithe body she resumed kissing and sucking at the girl’s neck while rhythmically fingering her and carefully stroking her clit. Fumbling around for a second, she pressed the pad of her thumb against the girl’s sensitive nub and applied the slightest super-speed vibration to the small nub without thinking about it. It just came to her, but Eve seemed to love it and the sounds she was pulling from the girl’s throat were intoxicating.

“God! Don’t stop, please, please don’t stop,” the pretty receptionist hissed and then begged, and she could feel the velvety wetness wrapped around her fingers pulsating.

Looking into the girl’s pale-blue eyes she was met by a smoldering look as she thrust her hand between Eve’s long legs again and again with the blue dress bundled up around her midsection and the pretty girl grunted with each thrust. Wanting something more that she couldn’t quite place, she took one of the girl’s hands and placed it on the middle of her chest. Even though it was her choice to allow this, the light and gentle touch still made her tense up.

“You sure?” Eve asked sweetly in between gasping little moans as she kept pumping her fingers in and out of her molten wetness and she gave a nod.

Eve, not needing to be told twice, gently ran a hand over her small breasts through the fabric of the white shirt she had on making her groan as her own nipples hardened. This was her trusting someone else, trusting them to touch, to explore and it was terrifying and amazing all at once. Briefly and then it was gone an image of Lena flashed in the back of her mind before she heard Eve’s moans again as she pushed her fingers in deeper and harder.

“You... are amazing!” Eve groaned and slipped a hand between the buttons of the shirt to trace the outlines of her abdominal muscles.

Grabbing the back of the girl’s honey-blonde hair she pressed her forehead against hers and started thrusting her fingers in and out at a steadily growing pace while those maddeningly gentle fingers stroked her skin underneath the white shirt. Eve held onto the desk with her free hand for dear life as it banged against the wall and holding onto a fistful of soft honey-blonde hair she set about kissing the girl senseless.

“Fu…” Eve’s curse was cut short by the kiss and she could feel the girl tightening around her fingers. To push her over the edge she vibrated her thumb against her clit harder while struggling a bit to contain herself.

“Go on,” she gave her permission with her voice raspy and thick with her own lust and that caused the girl in her arms to figuratively explode into a million pieces.

Eve Teschmacher, with her pale-blue eyes closed and fluttering and her face flushed came hard against her hand. Bucking wildly with soft thighs clamping down around her hand, she kept stroking the girl’s soaking wet insides with her thumb strumming against her clit and it felt like nothing else she’d ever experienced. Feeling manicured fingernails being raked against the skin of her stomach and along the undersides of her breasts, she growled deep in her throat and kissed her hard while not letting up on her ministrations. 

Another shuttering moan escaped Eve’s lips into their kiss as she thrust her fingers in again and again and then the girl was pawing at her front pleadingly, but she couldn’t stop it, didn’t want to stop. Pressing herself against the honey blonde's body she felt her shaking all over and whine into the kiss until the hand against her chest went limp. Now worried that she’d gotten too excited and carried away, she pulled back from the kiss to be met with the sight of glistening eyes and thoroughly ravaged pink lips. 

“You alright?” she asked gently, and the girl gave a shy but somewhat embarrassed nod before speaking while leaning heavily against her on unsteady legs. Right away she wrapped one arm around her to keep her upright.

“Y… yes I just don’t think I can do a fourth one…” the pretty receptionist admitted and for the first time that she could remember she saw Eve Teschmacher blush.

“Oh… oooh,” she gasped while feeling her cheeks warming up as it hit her that she’d made the girl orgasm three times without even realizing through the haze of her own excitement at being in control and she gently withdrew her hand from inside the blue panties. 

“Sorry,” she said right away and felt a bit sheepish as Eve made no moves to fix her dress and somehow her shirt had become unbuttoned from her collar all the way down to her bellybutton. 

Not that Eve was in any better of a state with the blue dress still bundled around her stomach and the bra pulled down. Well, it didn’t leave that much to cover her athletic body and she again memorized as much as she could of the amazing sight before her eyes.

“Danvers, you’re something else,” the girl giggled and then leaned in to kiss her sweetly on the lips.

“So you keep telling me,” she replied and couldn’t resist grinning when Eve pecked her a few times on the lips making her groan at the gentle gesture.

“I wouldn’t mind doing this again sometime,” Eve purred and ran a finger from between her breasts down to her stomach which she sucked in on reflex at being touched.

“I would like that,” she blurted out and looked down at the girl’s finger resting above her belly button. The simple touch made it feel like her skin was on fire and she felt goosebumps on her arms.

“I still can’t believe these are real… now would you like me to...” the pretty receptionist purred and left the unspoken suggestion hanging while she pressed a soft palm against her stomach and licked her lips. Don’t panic Zor-El, don’t panic! But panic she did!

"So... Would you like to go out sometime?" she blurted out nervously but politely which made the pretty girl give her one of those unreadable looks girls kept giving her and one day she hoped to understand the meaning behind them.

"Like on a date-date?" Eve asked and pulled the hand away from her stomach and she got the distinct feeling she’d just ruined the mood. 

"Yeah... if you want to that is..." she muttered and scratched the back of her neck, now standing there in an unbuttoned shirt feeling awkward. Should have just said yes, should have just said yes, she chastised herself. 

Yes, you should have! When a pretty girl asks to take care of you, you say yes! The annoying voice that always sounded like Alex shouted at her in the back of her mind too.

Though in truth she didn’t fully trust herself to control her strength if Eve or anyone else for that matter ever did to her what she’d just done to the pretty receptionist.

"You're sweet Danvers but…” the pretty girl started saying something that made her heart sink and all those doubts started creeping back into her mind, but before Eve could finish her sentence for good or ill the door opened.

“Farmgirl, thank god you’re alright! But we need to... Fuck?!” it was Lena Luthor, cursing loudly before turning away with her arms thrown up in the air no doubt from the sight of Eve half-naked and her first instinct was to push the receptionist fully behind her to shield her from view.

“Lee! I mean Miss Luthor,” she blurted out as she held out her arms to protect Eve’s modesty as the receptionist hurriedly pulled her bra back up and struggled to fix her dress.

“I’ll be back, later, much later, like maybe tomorrow and fuck this isn’t fair,” she heard Lena muttering while she couldn’t see the pale girl’s face, she could see that she was trembling.

“Wait!” she called out when Lena took a few steps but then broke into a run down the corridor outside the storage room.

“Crap, I’m fired, I’m so fired,” Eve was panicking behind her and she turned around to see that the girl was now a nervous wreck.

“Eve, look at me,” she said firmly while taking a hold of the girl’s shoulders and those pale-blue eyes were full of fear and worry.

“I’ll fix this, wait here, it will be fine I promise,” she spoke with as much conviction as she could muster and nervously Eve nodded her head. 

“Good, and for the record, you're all kinds of amazing,” she added and kissed the girl on the forehead before racing after Lena with her shirt still wide open and the red tie around her neck. Needing to find the green-eyed girl to explain herself, to make sure that she was alright, to save Eve’s job and mostly to apologize for what had just happened.

“Lena! Lee! Lena!” she called out as she ran through the labyrinth that was the LexCorp Building’s sub-basement until finally turning a corner she found Lena sitting on the floor with her back against the wall.

The pale girl was again dressed rather conservatively in a long black skirt and a red blouse with heels on, that indicated that she was at least dressing a bit like herself after the verbal abuse she’d overheard Lillian Luthor give the poor girl.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” the pale-skinned girl was muttering while banging the back of her head against the wall.

“Lee?” she asked gently and knelt down in front of the green-eyed girl who looked up at her with wet and shimmering eyes.

“Oh, it’s you, of course you came to find me,” Lena muttered and looked away to avoid keeping eye-contact and she wondered what that meant.

“I’m so very sorry about what you saw back there, it was totally unprofessional and completely my fault and if this means that my internship is terminated I totally get that but please it wasn’t Eve’s fault,” she pleaded and got ready to take her punishment.

That made Lena look back at her with a strange expression on her flawless pale face and then the green-eyed girl burst out laughing. It was one of those laughs that you let out when you’re at the end of your rope but also stunned beyond belief and she found herself chuckling without realizing it.

“What… what’s so funny?” she asked and put her hand on Lena’s arm to try to comfort the girl by stroking it.

“Of course you’d throw yourself on the sword for her, that’s just who you are isn’t it?” Lena asked her while wiping away a few tears from her eyes. The way she’d said that gave her a pause and again there was something about this brilliant girl she couldn’t explain.

“Who am I?” she asked back in a low voice because if Lena had the answer it would save her at least a few more years of figuring that out fully.

“You are a hero, that’s what you are,” the green-eyed girl answered with a smirk returning to her red lips and still utterly confused she gently squeezed the girl’s arm as again it struck her how fragile her friend really was.

“Well, I wouldn’t call hooking up in the file storage room heroic,” she muttered, and that made Lena laugh but this time it was that sweet laugh from her friend that she loved to hear.

“You… you are one of a kind Farmgirl,” Lena murmured while shaking her head and some of the tension seemed to ease out of the girl’s body.

“So… if this isn’t about me being fired, or Lena freaking Luthor being embarrassed at seeing a naked girl, which I don’t believe for a second by the way, what’s wrong?” she asked and sat down next to Lena on the floor with her back against the wall. 

“Don’t worry I won’t snitch on you and our receptionist... good catch, by the way, way to go get it! But no, it's not about that,” the green-eyed girl admitted sounding a bit more like her old self but she also got very interested in her hands that once again were decorated with various loud and sparkling silver rings. 

“Hey, you can tell me anything, I’m here for you remember?” she declared and again her arm was around Lena’s petite shoulders without her consciously putting it there.

“It’s just… that I could never get away with something like that… not that I’m asking you to share, but... why you and not me?” Lena asked while trying to be playful but the tears glistening in her eyes betrayed her sadness as her voice broke.

“Lee, is this because of your mom? Is she... watching you?” she asked and pulled the pale girl in closer as she heard a weak little sniffle.

“Maybe…” the green-eyed girl admitted in a tiny voice that sent her blood boiling as she gave serious thought to dangling Lillian Luthor from the top of the building, secret identities be damned!

“I trust you... you trust me,” she reminded the girl about what she’d texted her the night before and that made Lena smile.

“I do, it’s just not fair,” Lena whispered, and the tears started falling again so she did the only thing she thought might make it better. 

Wrapping both arms around Lena, she hugged her with as much care and affection as she could muster, which for Lena Luthor turned out to be a lot, while gently rocking her back and forth. Then slowly, and almost like she was scared that this was a dream, Lena hugged her back right there on the floor. Gently and timidly at first but then the pale girl’s arms tightened around her almost desperately.

“Better?” she asked after what felt like an eternity and looking up her with still glistening green eyes Lena nodded.

“I don’t deserve someone like you in my life, and I’m glad you’re alright, the footage I saw last night… well it scared me,” the green-eyed girl whispered and they were almost nose to nose for the first time. Her eyes are like the ocean, the thought came unabated into her mind.

“Everyone needs someone, and sturdy stuff remember?” she whispered and smiled her brightest smile at the girl to try to assure her that she wasn’t going anywhere. 

“Danvers, you got blown up! Blown up by what looked like high-grade explosives mixed with gasoline, so don’t you dare give me that sturdy stuff line, I was worried!” Lena protested and gave her a squeeze with all her might. It felt nice, like really nice.

“It only made my ears ring a little bit,” she countered trying to sound brave and strong. “Well, and I made a small crater in the ground when I landed,” she added sheepishly after a moment’s thought.

“Just promise me that you’ll be careful and I actually got some ideas that might help you with that little vigilantism side hustle you got going on if you want my help that is…” the green-eyed girl offered with her voice sounding at first strong but then unsure.

“You don’t want to know what kind of an… alien I am?” she asked because since finding out that night in the alley Lena had never asked for any details, rather the pale girl had been very accepting and now she was offering her help with no questions asked.

“It doesn’t matter because you’re my friend… right?” Lena asked and there was that vulnerability in the usually in charge and ballsy girl’s voice again as she realized that they were still hugging.

“Lee… my name is Zo…” she started saying it while staring into Lena’s green eyes ready to reveal who she really was, but then the girl’s phone vibrated with a notification sound that echoed in the empty hallways spooking them both. Trying to press on with her confession the noise only grew louder from Lena’s phone.

“Crap!” the green-eyed girl blurted out and tried to untangle herself from their hug and she was immediately worried she’d done or said something wrong.

“What is it?” she asked as she yanked her arms away from around the petite girl and held them up in the air. Another moment ruined today, you’re two for two Zor-El.

“No, no, it’s not you, I promised Sam I’d do something for her today and I have to go or I’ll be late for it,” Lena replied and stood up before brushing down her skirt. 

“Sa… Sam?” she asked hoping that she was sounding somewhat surprised at hearing the name even though she knew who the single mother was. The single mother that Lena was definitely dating now.

“Mhmm, you have to meet her in person someday, you’ll love her, I promise,” Lena said with a smile while pulling her phone out and checking it before cursing again.

“I… I would like that,” she stammered and like that the vulnerable Lena Luthor was gone along with brave Zor-El, replaced by the girl she’d become more accustomed to calling her friend. Her friend, who was dating someone named Sam and why did that make her feel weird?

“Perfect, look we still need to talk about you recklessly blowing yourself up, so why don’t you come to my place tonight before, what do you call it? Your patrol?” Lena asked and unable to find her voice she just nodded from where she sat on the floor.

“Sure,” she muttered and then Lena bent down and kissed her on the forehead and the touch of those lips again felt searing hot against her skin.

“You’re the best, but maybe button-up your shirt hm? It’s very distracting you know,” the green-eyed girl teased her with a familiar smirk, and it caused her to blush bright red.

“Yes ma’am,” she blurted out and jumped to her feet before fumbling with the buttons on her shirt feeling like a total goof. Had she been hugging Lena all this time with her shirt undone? Yep she had!

“And go tell Miss Teschmacher that her job isn’t in jeopardy, but please be more careful in the future… daddy,” Lena teased her which made her blush redder than a tomato before the green-eyed girl strode away.

Making her way back to file storage room number forty-two she finished buttoning up her shirt and found Eve nervously sitting on the edge of the desk while chewing on her finger looking like a woman waiting to be led to the gallows. Even though she’d not been able to tell Lena who she really was, she could at least give Eve some good news and hopefully make up for herself being a scaredy-cat earlier.

“All good,” she declared with a sunny smile while pretending to dust off her hands and the relieved sigh from the honey-blonde girl was very cute.

“Thank you, how did you…. no, I don’t want to know, but that was too close,” Eve blurted out and shifted around nervously on her perch on the desk.

“I’m sorry about putting you in that position,” she apologized in a low serious voice ready to take the blame while stepping up to the girl and that actually made her laugh.

“It takes two to tango Danvers, but you're sweet for saying that,” the pretty receptionist giggled, and she fought hard not to blush for assuming that this had all been her fault. 

“Well then unless you want to do something more official, we can do this again… maybe somewhere safer?” she offered and grinned which made the girl laugh sweetly.

“Still stuck on that date thing, uh Danvers? Really you don't have to do that, and this can be a just for fun kind of thing," the receptionist replied once the laughter died down a little, but she was still chuckling.

"Really... I mean really?" she asked and hoped her voice hadn’t cracked too much. Casual, she could do casual fun since it meant no big revelations about her Kryptonian heritage like the one she’d botched with Lena and maybe for once something could be simple in her life.

"Really and I think you might be in high demand by... someone else..." Eve said trying not to laugh again and tapped a finger on her own forehead which confused her to no end. 

“What?” she asked and started feeling around for what the girl was trying to point out to her but not finding it.

"I... I mean... I didn't mean too… Lena… Miss Luthor, we’re just friends," she stammered and that made the girl laugh even harder while holding up a small compact mirror. 

Looking wide-eyed into the small mirror she saw it, in the middle of her forehead, the red lipstick mark Lena had left behind, and she wiped at it with the sleeve of her shirt. Why had Lena gone and done that!

"Danvers you're so old fashioned! It's adorable!” Eve declared and stood up from the desk and smoothed down her blue dress before reaching out and fixing her tie affectionately. 

Again, she thought about how she really liked the color blue as she looked down on the delicate fingers fixing her red tie as she remembered those tan-lines now hidden by the dress, but she could still see the freckle on Eve’s shoulder.

“Though you should think about getting contacts, your eyes are quite stunning,” the pretty girl said softly and then placed her glasses, that she’d torn off in the heat of passion, on her face before stroking her cheek which rendered her speechless for a second.

“Well I got really bad vision! Like I’m blind as a bat without them unless I’m really close to someone, I mean something,” she blurted out and that made the girl giggle and shake her head.

“Come on, you can escort me back to the lobby and don't worry Daddy Danvers, this can happen as often and for as long as you like," Eve assured her and kissed her on the cheek while patting down her tie that was much straighter now.

Unable to argue and seeing no point in doing so, she escorted the pretty girl with one hand on her lower-back back to her station at the receptionist desk in the lobby. After saying her polite goodbyes to Eve she turned around just in time for her to see Lena walking in while holding onto a familiar-looking little girl’s hand. It was Sam’s daughter and Lena was smiling and probably heading out for a nice late lunch date with the two and she all of a sudden needed to be anywhere else but here and more importantly to wash her face, so she ducked into a nearby bathroom like a coward.

Looking into the mirror she saw the faint remains of the red lipstick mark Lena had left on her forehead along with the much brighter pink one on her cheek from Eve’s little thank you kiss. Turning on the water she scrubbed her face clean and let out a sigh. At least she was having fun or that’s what Alex would say, but she felt like she should sneak off early today and see what she could get up to in the Slums before going to Lena’s place. Just to clear her head because, Rao, girls were confusing!

* * *

Later, having rushed home early and changed, needing a fresh pair of boxers after her encounter with Eve while somehow her shirt now smelled like Lena. Danvers had hurriedly pulled on her black turtleneck before drawing the black lines on her face using the old eye black which was running out now and stuffed her feet into her black boots. Wanting to just get out there already and do good, she pulled out the bun she had her hair in, but before she could pull it into her tactical ponytail the scrunchy broke and it was her last one. Sighing, she threw her glasses on the bed, stuffed the ball cap down over her blonde mane the best she could and then she launched herself from her window in the direction of the Slums.

With the cool wind hitting her face she felt like she could finally think straight. Eve was her friend with benefits, well with daddy benefits, Lena was her friend who was dating someone but not ready to open up about it and as for herself. Well, she was a confused mess who had tried to come out as a Kryptonian to her friend and failed miserably while also putting her foot in her mouth with Eve when all the pretty receptionist had wanted was to keep having fun.

Landing on a rooftop in the middle of Alien Town, she scanned the streets and didn’t spot Officer Sawyer on patrol, though she might have been early in her rush to get here, but she wanted to avoid the Latinx officer at all costs. Because she wasn’t so sure she’d be led off with a warning if she ran into the brown-eyed young woman again. 

After a few minutes of quiet, she thought about going to Lena’s like she’d promised before her ears picked up a faint cry for help. Launching herself into the sky without a second thought and landing with a low thud in a nearby alley but looking around she couldn’t see or hear anything. Which was strange because usually, she would pick up some kind of background noise, but regardless someone here needed her help.

“Hello?” she called out and then she heard somebody sniffling behind a nearby dumpster. Walking over carefully she pushed the dumpster to the side with one hand as it scraped across the ground and it was a young girl crying. 

“It’s okay I’m here to help, are you in trouble?” she asked while offering her hand and this felt better than beating some Intergang members up and less messy than putting out a fire or being blown up.

“I’m sorry,” the girl whispered and shrunk away from her hand which confused her, but she smiled at the girl.

“You don’t have to be sorry, I’m sure it’s okay, just come out and I’ll take you home or we can go to Pat’s Diner and he’ll fix you up something hot to eat,” she said gently while trying to assure the girl that she was here to help and then she heard a faint shuffle coming from behind her in the alley.

“I’m sorry…you look like a really nice person, but they made me do it,” the girl whimpered and before she could process what the scared girl was saying it was too late.

“Who made you…” she started asking but was cut off by a searing pain in her shoulder and then she felt the sticky feel of her own warm blood running down her back.

“Not so tough now bitch?” somebody yelled while pulling her around by her hair and she was spun around to see that somehow a group of Intergang members had snuck up on her.

“How?” she groaned after being thrown to the ground and grabbed onto her shoulder feeling warm blood oozing from a wound in her back as she tried to assume some sort of stance to fight back.

Why she hadn’t heard them became evident when she saw that one of them was holding a glowing green knife wet with her own red blood along with a chunk of her hair and her eyes widened slightly in panic before she got it under control. Never let them see your fear little one, is what Astra had taught her and Kal had indeed warned her once about Kryptonite, but this was her first encounter with the mineral, and she was bleeding already.

They didn’t answer but instead they rushed her, at least a dozen of them if not more, raining down blows on her using the now-familiar makeshift metal clubs. Due to the proximity to the glowing green blade dulling her strength and her speed each blow hurt, but she was not a weakling and refused to fall. Brawling with them across the alley she shouted for the young girl to run before she got slashed across the arm with the ominous glowing blade slicing into her skin and Rao it hurt and made her scream in pain!

“Yeah! Make her bleed!” she heard an angry voice taunting her and she felt dizzy as she staggered around with her fists raised. Focus, Zor-El, focus! 

Cursing in Kryptonian seemed to scare them off for a second as she swung her fists at anything that came near to her and tried to use her heat-vision, but it fizzled out after one blast that was way off target. In a moment of clarity, she focused on avoiding the knife and she tackled two of them into the dumpster with enough force to slam it against the wall and then lashed out with a kick that sent another one of them flying ten feet through the air before coming to a halt against a chain-link fence at the bottom of the alley.

“She’s not going down!” one of them shouted but she knew she couldn’t keep this up forever. The blood was running down her back and her vision was becoming blurrier the longer she stayed closer to the Kryptonite in the blade.

“I… can do this... all… night long,” she mumbled trying to sound cocky, but she was staggered, and the two cuts on her shoulder and arm stung like hell.

Again, they rushed her, and again she pushed them back while taking a blow to the side of her head that knocked off her ball cap and caused her lip to bleed. The knife! She had to get to the knife and throw it as far away as she could!

Going for an uppercut to try to knock out the one wielding the knife was her downfall, as she whiffed on the punch and was stabbed in the thigh for her efforts. Reaching down she grabbed onto the knife while grimacing and tried to yank it from the attacker’s hand but in the end, it caused the tip to break off in her thigh. There is never shame in a tactical retreat when the situation calls for it, her aunt Astra’s voice reminded her in the back of her mind.

Letting out a roar that shook the alley and staggered her attackers she made sure that the girl she’d thought she was saving was gone before she managed to do a one-legged jump away from the alley with the piece of the knife still throbbing in her thigh and the Intergang members shouting curses after her as one of them took her ball cap as a trophy. 

Landing with a loud crash on a nearby rooftop, then rolling and tumbling until she came to a stop against the edge of the roof with her arm and leg dangling off it, she felt her vision clearing a bit, but then a sharp pain shot through her body. 

“Frick!” she cursed and grabbed at her thigh, it was burning like heck and she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t go to Pat’s, no she couldn’t bring that kind of attention to the diner owner’s doorstep, couldn’t go home because it was too far and explaining blood to Lois when she came back from Gotham wouldn’t be easy and shouting for help from Kal wouldn't work either because he was off-world.

“Lena…” she murmured and weakly pulled her recharged phone out of her pocket. Lena had given her an address that they were supposed to meet up at to talk about how the brilliant girl could maybe help out with her little vigilantism side hustle. This was a hell of a way to introduce the green-eyed girl to it though, but she had no choice and she knew Lena would help.

“Two jumps… no big deal... I can make it,” she told herself even though she didn’t quite believe it and staggered to her feet after seeing where the girl’s apartment was on the map in her phone. Taking to the sky on unsteady feet she hoped Lena was at home because if the green-eyed girl wasn’t, well, then she’d be in real trouble. 

The first jump wasn’t so bad, but the landing hurt like hell, the second one was even worse, and she’d miscalculated how far it really was to Lena’s apartment. Groaning at having to haul herself off the ground one more time she weakly managed one last jump before reaching a red brick building at the waterfront separating the Slums from Metropolis proper. 

The green-eyed girl’s apartment was located in a converted warehouse loft overlooking the river and the Slums and she could see as she approached it, though technically she was falling towards it, that Lena was home by using her flickering X-ray vision before that too gave out and she landed with a loud crash in a heap on the fire escape outside one of the windows. Raising her trembling hand, she weakly knocked on the glass as everything started to feel very woozy.

Stay awake Zor-El, it will be fine, Lena will take care of you, she thought, and she somehow instinctively knew that the pale-skinned girl would do just that, but she didn’t know why. Giving another weak knock on the glass she could hear Lena gasping from inside followed by the sound of a wine glass hitting the floor and shattering. 

One of the last things she remembered seeing before passing out was Lena, looking white as a ghost, rushing to open the window while wearing what looked like the hoodie that she’d been missing since their trip to the mall together and the concern clearly evident in the pale girl’s green eyes was touching. It was too bad she was dating that Sam woman. Wait why was she worried about that? Was this what it felt to be delirious?

“Kara?” Lena asked with her voice worried and breathy if a bit slurred as she waved at the pretty girl who was her friend and who wasn’t single with one bloodied hand. Yep, definitely delirious now.

“Hello goth goddess… I mean Lee… it’s not as bad as it looks… promise,” she muttered with her voice faltering along with her vision blurring, and then she looked at her bloodied hand because Lena’s beautiful green eyes were wide with shock. 

“Oh, maybe it’s as bad as it looks…” she conceded before collapsing into Lena’s arms with the green-eyed girl panicking at the sight of her in her less than stellar state and she guessed that the blood didn’t help either.

“Danvers… Danvers! Stay with me damn it! Stay with me okay?!” Lena exclaimed with her voice growing louder while touching her cheek which caused her to raise her heavy head with some difficulty and smile at the girl. Lena really was the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen on any world, and she didn’t want her to worry.

“Nice… hoodie… suits you…” she muttered as the delirium fully took over and then everything went a very interesting shade of grey before slowly fading to black with Lena loudly cursing before calling someone for help.

“Farmgirl don’t you dare leave me! Pick up you idiot!” the green-eyed girl was yelling at her and then at someone on the phone while slapping her cheek to try to keep her awake as she faded into nothingness. Typical Danvers luck, you’re in Lena Luthor’s arms at her house but it’s while bleeding out, the dry voice in the back of her mind commented before she decided now was a good time for a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And just like that Danvers has had her first experience as a daddy, but don't tell Alex guys! Did she mess it up a little bit at the end? Well duh of course she did! Is Eve just the sweetest? Oh, I like to think so! Are Lena and Sam dating or is Kara paranoid? Well, I guess we'll find out right? Is this slow-burn eating away at you? God, I hope so!
> 
> Next up we pay a long overdue visit to Lena's point of view and see what she thinks about all of this craziness that Danvers is bringing to her doorstep. Who is she taking her injured Farmgirl to for help? Can she stay sober to help out? Did she steal that hoodie and why is she wearing it? Will Kara recover and remember any of what she saw or thought while delirious? 
> 
> Find out next time on The Internship.


	9. Hello Goth Goddess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for us to see how young Lena Luthor is doing after Danvers crash-landed on her fire-escape at the end of the last episode. Join me on a journey into the conflicted mind of the younger Luthor as she tries her best to be a good friend to her Farmgirl while making sure she gets the help she needs from an unexpected source and who knows there might be some cuddling to

Lena Kieran Luthor, the second and youngest child of Lillian and Lionel Luthor, sister to Lex Luthor and current Internship Project Manager at LexCorp wasn’t having a good night. It had started out well enough at least compared to how most nights for her went. As was tradition after a testy talk with her mother about her various failings and misconducts, she’d felt down and in response to that she’d poured herself a glass of wine, filled to the brim, downed it without thinking and poured herself another before putting on the Farmgirl’s hoodie that she’d borrowed without asking because it made her feel safe and warm. Then she’d gotten down to the business of really drowning her sorrows while trying to work up some much-needed courage before her blonde Farmgirl was due to visit her later that evening.

With the second glass down the hatch, she’d poured herself a third one and tried to forget the image still playing on a loop in her mind. The image of her noble Farmgirl with her shirt unbuttoned and wide-open yet still shielding the half-naked receptionist, Teschmacher, from view. Followed by the vision of her friend kneeling down with those earnest blue eyes looking at her with such depth of worry and care when she’d found her hiding in a basement hallway after she ran away from the intimate moment she’d barged in on between her friend and the pretty receptionist, yes she wasn’t blind. Even though still thoroughly exposed and positively glowing, Danvers had been hellbent on making sure that she was alright, even though she didn’t deserve that level of kindness. Finally, there had been the Hug, the memory of that single hug was enough to make her down her third glass in one big gulp, and if not for that promise to Sam to pick up Ruby she wasn’t sure if her self-control would have held out in that dimly lit sub-basement hallway, her mother’s warning be damned!

Wandering around her empty loft apartment in her baggy jeans and stolen hoodie, with her wine glass in one hand and the bottle in the other she’d tried to think of what clever things she could say to Danvers when she showed up. There were ideas, she always had ideas, she could offer to help her fight crime in the Slums, build her gadgets which the blueprints for were strewn over her dining room table or she could just stop fooling around and fuck the tall and strong girl already. Putting the bottle down with a loud thud over one of the sketches for a mask for Danvers she tried to get a grip.

No, she couldn’t do that to her Farmgirl! Kara, no Danvers, deserved better than being another pawn in her games with her mother and another notch on her bedpost, and that had made her fill up her fourth glass of the admittedly excellent vintage red wine to the brim before putting the near-empty bottle down. She royally sucked at being someone’s friend and she knew it as she glanced over at the sketches strewn across the dining room table.

Pulling at the baggy hoodie she had on she shook her head and wondered why she’d taken it that day at the mall. Danvers had said she didn’t need it back before it had ended up in her backpack and after their near run-in with her mother, she’d never gotten around to giving it back. Before she could continue her pity party a loud thud, like a bird hitting her window interrupted her and at first, she thought nothing of it, but then she heard a faint knock and then followed by another even weaker knock.

Following the sound until the horrific sight outside her window made her drop her glass of wine which shattered on the floor. The blonde and earnest girl had shown up early for the planned get together. Bleeding and knocking on her window while wearing all-black and with the light fading in those brilliant blue eyes of hers, Danvers was struggling to wave. Not that she would ever tell her hero that she liked her blue eyes or how she looked incredible in general, since Kara Danvers wasn’t the girl for her, no, her hero was simply too nice and pure to ever be with someone like her.

Seeing her hero in such a sorry state had sent her into a panic before she managed to gather her thoughts. Wait a minute! Her farmgirl, her hero, Danvers wasn’t any of those things, she was just a good friend who hadn’t figured out what a messed-up disaster she was and ran away yet. Focus you drunk bitch! She’d reminded herself firmly. You need to remember what Emma taught you.

The first thing she’d done was to call the only person she could think of for help before dragging the girl into her apartment where she’d pulled the green glowing splinter out of the unconscious girl’s thigh because it seemed to be poisoning her and then stuffed the wound with cotton. It was a trick a friendly bodyguard’s she’d gotten close to while touring LexCorp humanitarian projects in Africa had taught her, but that was before she’d gotten too close to Emma and things had gone the way they always went when she got close to someone. Her mother had found out and told her to knock it off with the rebellious lesbianism already.

Pushing the painful thoughts about her checkered past away, she focused on stuffing cotton into the ugly wound on the girl’s shoulder to stop the bleeding and then hauled the blonde into her little red sports car and rushed her to the only person she trusted to take care of her friend.

Moving her wasn’t a smart move and she knew it, but the people who had done this to her friend might still be giving chase, she reasoned and that meant she had to take her somewhere that was safe and as close to being a fortress as she could find in the city. Which had brought her here.

“Hold on, we’re almost there...” she whispered to the half-passed-out girl slung over her shoulder that had come around in the car and who was much heavier than she looked. Half dragging and half-carrying the girl wasn’t the best solution, but it was the best she could do.

“You are pretty…” the blonde muttered with her sapphire almost unearthly blue eyes half open and a weak smile on her bloodied lips

Finally the private elevator dinged on the top floor of the upscale apartment building that she'd rushed them to and their arrival at the top mercifully meant that she could avoid having to worry about what the hell Danvers had meant by that.

The elevator’s doors opened and in front of them stood Lex, always tall and reliable big brother Lex, with his sleeves rolled up and his face turned from amused to serious in a split second upon seeing her struggling to hold up Danvers’ bulky frame. The girl really was much heavier than she looked and that made her wonder about her atomic density for all of five seconds.

“When you said that there was an emergency I didn’t expect this,” her brother commented dryly but moved right away to help carry Danvers into the penthouse apartment that he called home. Since it was his home and with him being legendarily paranoid it also meant that it was the most secure location in the entire city

“Well I didn’t know where else to take her, and mother wouldn’t let me finish med-school, remember?” she complained as together they hauled the half-conscious blonde into Lex’s spacious penthouse apartment.

“Oh, hi Mister Luthor… I’m sorry about the blood on your nice carpet…” her farmgirl muttered with blood dripping down her hand as she briefly regained consciousness while trying to raise her head up to look at them with unfocused blue eyes. This girl was something else and really was made of steel.

“It’s Danvers!” Lex exclaimed once he got a good look at her friend’s face, sounding astonished and she cursed herself for even having told her brother about Kara Danvers and how they were becoming good friends, but the blonde was simply so unique that she’d needed to brag about it to someone.

“Yes and right now she needs our help,” she said as they laid their precious cargo down on a nearby couch while Lex checked her over and she had to stop herself from telling her brother not to touch her friend because she didn’t like that.

“LexCorp Disaster Kit, in the kitchen go get it,” Lex ordered her before she ran off to get the kit and when she returned her brother was inspecting the wounds on Kara’s leg and shoulder more closely with a pair of glasses on his nose.

“You stuffed them with cotton, good choice, but we need to close them up or she’ll scar,” he commented in that analytical voice of his as she handed him the so-called disaster kit and he pulled on a pair of latex gloves. It was a combination medkit and survival kit that LexCorp had issued to every household in the city once Superman’s battles became commonplace in the lives of its residents.

“But you can help her, right?” she asked not caring about how worried she sounded and he nodded while using a pair of scissors to cut away the jeans from the blonde’s leg to better get to the wound. Guess I owe her another shopping trip if she’ll even agree to it, she thought to herself.

“It’s like she’s been poisoned or burned by something, what was she doing?” he asked without saying upon seeing the slightly pronounced veins around the wound on her friend’s leg that were thankfully quickly fading.

“Just fix her up okay,” she half-begged and half-ordered her brother and it wasn’t her secret to tell, but her friend needed help and Lex was the best she could do on short notice. Though she’d never pushed for more details about the Farmgirl’s alien heritage she didn’t deny that she too was curious.

“Since you asked so nicely,” he dryly commented while cleaning up the wound and she hoped that Lex wouldn’t notice anything else that would indicate Kara’s alien heritage, again that was not her secret to ruin. Tesla knew she’d ruined enough things already. So, she did what she did best, she lied her ass off to protect Kara’s secret.

Watching and occasionally serving as the nurse she observed as Lex carefully cut through the black turtleneck along with a white tank top that Danvers wore before pealing the clothes from her friend’s back. In the process exposing bruised skin over rippling muscles to get to the stab wound in the back of the girl’s shoulder. It looked angry and jagged, but not as bad as the amount of blood had indicated or maybe Danvers healed really fast.

There was a big bloodstain on the back of the white tank top that she could see while it was being cut away though the bleeding had stopped, but the more of the clothing that got peeled away the more ugly bruises she could see all over her friend’s tan and freckled skin. Clenching her fists, she knew her getting angry right now was not what her Farmgirl needed.

“Her blood is clotting at an astounding rate, maybe some form of mutation and maybe even an active metagene,” Lex commented with the curiosity clear in this voice and she chewed on her bottom lip at seeing the blonde laid low like this. Who would do this to someone as sweet and kind as her Farmgirl? Then scolding herself she tried to think of her as just Kara Danvers instead, but it was futile.

“She’s not a lab rat,” she commented back with some of that Luthor venom in her voice and she knew Lex, hell she knew herself, a part of her wanted to study and learn everything she could about Kara Danvers on so many different levels, but that wouldn’t be ethical or fair to her friend.

“I know, she’s a very strong young woman, do you know what happened?” her brother asked and patched up the wound on the blonde’s broad back. Closing the wound up like he had done with the one on her leg and sealing it with regenerative white medical strips, a LexCorp invention, he ran a trained and professional eye over the blonde’s body looking for any other injuries that might require attending to.

“No, she showed up at my place bleeding and looking like this,” she lied smoothly while omitting any references to her friend’s little vigilantism side-hustle and the only thing she could do was hold onto Kara’s limp hand while Lex worked his medical magic on the remaining cut on the girl’s arm.

“I should call Clark,” Lex declared but she knew that her best friend wouldn’t want that. People didn’t dress up in all-black and fight crime at night if they wanted their family to know about it, she reasoned with herself.

“No, not our call, if she’s in trouble I’ll deal with it,” she said firmly and squeezed Kara’s hand while giving Lex a challenging look that he met but, in the end, she won out.

“Fine, I’ll let you take the lead on this one, but he should be informed,” he reasoned and she looked down at Kara’s now semi-peaceful face as the girl seemed to be looking much better without that thing she’d pull from her leg and thrown in her jewelry box for later inspection. Though she had to give Lex credit for the use of his deft hands in patching her friend up.

“Tell him what, that his cousin got hurt doing something she probably isn’t allowed to do? It’s not our call,” she declared and brushed stray locks of hair out of her friend’s face. Danvers, despite being brave and earnest, looked very much like a fragile young woman right then, a woman she felt the overpowering urge to protect at all costs.

“Fine, fine, but don’t come crying to me when this blows up in both your faces,” he said while holding his hands up in defeat. Score one for little sister, she chuckled to herself.

“Thank you,” she whispered and gave him a small smile. Many things could be said about Lex, but he was at the end of the day a serviceable big brother.

“Though I must say that compared to the last girl you brought over this one is a major upgrade,” he then teased her and she groaned at the memory of that little stunt she’d pulled, but if Lex was making jokes it meant that her, darn it, that Farmgirl was going to be alright.

“What was her name again? Nose Piercing? Nora? Nella?” he kept it up and she wanted to punch him right in his bald head because he knew that she probably didn’t remember the girl’s name, she never remembered their names. After all, there had been quite a few girls and a couple of guys ever since she came out as pan though her mother still called it her lesbian phase.

“Fine, I don’t remember, but she isn’t like that, she’s my friend,” she growled at him before again checking on the blonde’s status when she heard a faint sniffle while Lex used disinfectant wipes to clean up any dried blood.

“Well your friend is a tough girl and should be better by the morning based on how fast she’s healing,” he conceded sounding almost impressed and she flashed him a grateful smile again. Danvers was indeed healing fast, but she made a mental note of analyzing that thing she’d pulled out of her friend’s thigh.

“Lex… I’m sorry about dumping all this on your doorstep… and I don’t want to cause issues between you and mother,” she apologized and pushed a pillow under her hero’s blonde head to make her more comfortable.

“Nonsense, I can handle our mother and she isn’t giving you trouble again is she?” he asked and packed away the medkit before pouring himself a crystal tumbler of scotch from a nearby drinks station hidden inside a globe.

“No,” she lied since she didn’t want to cause conflict between her mother and her brother again. It never ended well when she did, and their already dysfunctional family didn’t need any more tension.

“Lena,” he said with a drawl and handed her a filled to the brim tumbler which she took trying to look totally innocent. The latest dressing down from her mother had hurt, more than usual, because she knew it wasn’t only her that was in trouble but potentially Kara too since her mother had no doubt gotten reports of their growing friendship.

“Lex, it’s fine, I can fight my own battles,” she insisted and lied before she took a long sip of the scotch and felt burning its way down her throat. No, she shouldn’t drink tonight, Kara needed her to be sober, but just one drink wouldn’t hurt, and she finished the glass off in two big gulps.

“If you say so, now you can stay here until she’s able to move, but if this happens again I am calling Clark,” he said using his CEO voice and she nodded with the glass at her lips having just drained it.

“What’s the deal with you and her cousin anyway?” she asked and put her empty glass down before finding herself holding onto the blonde’s hand while stroking the hair out of her face gently.

“Long story is what the deal is, suffice to say he did something for me once and I owe him for that,” her brother answered and for just once she wished her family would talk openly about the past or anything for that matter.

“What a positively Luthorian answer big brother, but what? You were secret lovers, best friends but a girl came between you, he made you go bald and you’re plotting your revenge by being his friend and giving his cousin a job?” she sarcastically pressed him for details and that made him laugh that rich laugh of his.

“Oh nothing quite so base, plus Lois Lane isn’t my number one fan by any stretch of the imagination, let’s just say that a debt was incurred that I can never repay and leave it at that,” he laughed and fended off her question with his usual charm and a wink as he held up the bottle of scotch offering a refill.

“Fine, and that was a lot of words when you could have just said none of your damn business,” she laughed and reached for the crystal tumbler to accept the refill but upon seeing Kara’s eyes twitching she put it down again while shaking her head.

“That’s a first, I’ll just leave you, two friends, to it then, there are blankets in the hallway closet and food in the fridge,” he commented with a raised eyebrow and wandered out of the room.

“Where are you going?” she called after him but couldn’t bear to leave her hero’s side right then because the blonde’s closed eyes kept twitching like she was having a nightmare.

“The Japanese markets are opening soon so what do you think,” he replied and vanished into one of the myriad rooms of the spacious penthouse leaving her all alone with the now gently snoring but squirming in her sleep Kara Danvers.

“What am I going to do about you,” she asked her passed out friend and knelt down on the floor to pull the girl’s heavy black boots off to reveal a pair of mismatched socks which made her laugh despite the seriousness of the situation.

“Guess you’re not waking up anytime soon uh,” she commented to the sleeping blonde when the boots coming off didn’t wake her up and she reluctantly wandered over to the hallway closet while glancing back at her friend every so often to make sure she was still there.

Returning with a blanket, she became keenly aware of the sorry state of the blonde’s clothes since Lex had been forced to cut the jeans partly off to get to the wound in her thigh and the black turtleneck and tank top were for all intended purposes shredded as well. Hoping that the blonde was at least wearing something underneath her all-black getup beside that white tank top, she grunted when she tried to undress her while keeping her eyes firmly to herself.

“You are… heavy,” she grunted as she managed while using the blanket to shield her friend from view to get the turtleneck and the remains of the tank top of the sleeping blonde who really did sleep like the dead and again she wondered why she was much heavier than she looked.

“We got to get you some more clothes,” she absentmindedly thought and lacking anything else to dress her friend in, she pulled off the hoodie she’d ‘borrowed’ and with some difficulty managed to get it on the blonde’s muscular frame while being careful of her injured and bruised shoulder while keeping her eyes on Danvers’ face and not on her chest or her stomach.

The jeans were more problematic however, she knew that her Farmgirl didn’t want to be seen exposed and she had to knock it off with all that her Farmgirl stuff already. Peeling the jeans down toned and tan legs she was careful not to disturb the white medical strips Lex had used to close the wound on her thigh. Seeing the wound up close made her angry again though! Who would dare hurt her beautiful friend like this? Right then, she decided that they would have to pay, especially when she gave another little whimper in her sleep.

“Hey, it’s alright, I’m here,” she whispered and stroked the blonde’s dirty brow which seemed to soothe her somewhat.

Carefully the cut-up jeans came off and she decided to leave the mismatched pair of socks on the girl’s feet before she realized that Kara would be mortified if she woke up in just those tight red boxers and her hoodie. Doing a quick guesstimation of the blonde’s height and damn she was tall! Like how had she not realized that Kara Danvers was a good foot and a couple of inches to spare taller than she was? Covering the Farmgirl with a blanket to shield her from view she was loath to ask Lex for more help, but it was needed.

“Lex, do you have any shorts or sweatpants?” she called out quietly hoping she wouldn’t wake up her friend who still gave the occasional whimper which made her want to protect this wonderful girl at all costs. After a short wait, her brother emerged with his phone in one hand and a pair of truly garish surf shorts in the other.

“Sweatpants, mother would never let me live it down if I owned a pair, but here I wore these on my last trip to Maui,” he chuckled and tossed her the Hawaiian-shirt patterned shorts

“Thanks,” she said and made sure to keep shielding her friend from view the best she could as she caught the multicolored monstrosity as it came flying through the air toward her outstretched hand.

“Is she alright?” he asked and upon seeing what she was doing he turned around right away. Lex really was a serviceable good big brother when he wanted to be and, in a way, both Kara and Lex were the same in that regard, they were respectful.

“She’s sleeping, but I don’t want her to wake up in those torn and dirty clothes,” she explained and checked on the blonde’s face to see that, for now, she was sleeping peacefully. It would seem that the nightmares came and went for the blonde, unlike hers that sometimes lasted through the night.

“You sure she’s just a friend?” he teased her, and she threw a throw-pillow in his general direction in reply that hit him square in the back of his bald head.

“Yes, now get out of here, girls only, no boys allowed,” she hissed at him, but she could hear the smile in his voice as he vanished into his office again.

“Just like when you had sleepovers,” he chuckled and she didn’t respond because she thought she saw Danvers, trying to open her blue eyes while mumbling something about Lois, someone named Pat and Eve Teschmacher which aroused the little green monster in her head.

“Rest now, I’ll look after you,” she whispered while leaning close to the girl’s ear and gently stroked her thick blonde hair. It did the trick and the farmgirl dozed off again with a gentle smile on her chapped lips.

“Now, how in Newton’s name do I get these on you,” she muttered and held up the baggy shorts and looked down the blonde’s impossibly long and powerful legs.

One leg at a time was the solution and then slowly wiggling the shorts up until they were in place around the girl’s narrow waist. Again she made sure to keep her eyes firmly on a fixed point since she didn’t want to ogle her sleeping friend, but it was hard not to, Danvers was built like a Greek god, or was it like a goddess, in either case, it was distracting as hell and she’d already way too often allowed her much-vaunted self-control to slip when around the blonde.

“Friend, you are her friend, you can’t be anything else, not after how you fucked up,” she said to herself before retrieving a wet washcloth to wash away the faded black markings on the blonde’s face and a garbage bag to stuff the ruined clothes in. She’d smudged the black lines on Danvers’ face the best she could in the car on the way over to hide the fact her friend was indeed a vigilante, but her Farmgirl would feel better if she woke up nice and clean.

Kneeling down by the girl’s head she carefully started removing the remains of the war paint from Danvers’ face and she was struck by how much the Farmgirl reminded her of Emma, even though it had been two years. Pushing the thought out of her mind she focused on removing the faded and smudged black lines the girl had painted on her tan skin one streak at a time.

With her friend’s face clean, just keep telling yourself that Luthor, all she could do was sit there and stroke her hair to soothe her whenever she saw her eyelids fluttering again. Lillian, her mother, had told her many times in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t allowed to associate with female staff or as her mother called it when on her third glass of wine, screwing the help.

Not that she’d been good at following that rule and again memories from the not so distant past came flooding back. Emma, the bodyguard with her flaming red hair and passionate green eyes that she’d met in Africa that had been her first love. The woman had been older than her, but she’d been gentle and kind and caring underneath her rough exterior and they’d even talked about getting engaged. That was up until Lillian had sacked the woman, crushed her really, with her in attendance and unable to do anything about it before stuffing her on the next plane back home to Metropolis.

It had been an object lesson her mother called it. In response, she’d gotten blackout drunk for two weeks and in the end, Lex and his bodyguard had dragged her out of a rundown apartment in the Suicide Slums by force and into what had not been her first unsuccessful stint in rehab that she then lied herself out off.

Then there was Sam, who always forgave her, who she would only risk meeting outside the LexCorp building to protect her from her mother’s wrath even though she adored Ruby and wanted to spend more time with them both. In short, she couldn’t allow herself the freedom Danvers enjoyed, only when she got drunk and went out clubbing in the Slums could she allow herself to be free, but when she got drunk she either fucked up or fucked someone. It had been partly why she’d tried to set her friend up that night, to protect her Farmgirl from herself.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered down to the sleeping blonde. It had been stupid of her to set this sweet and pure, well after seeing her with Eve Teschmacher maybe not so pure girl, up with someone like she had tried to do and even though they’d mended that fence, she knew she’d pushed her friend too far and too fast. There was also the fact that it was only a matter of time before she’d mess up again too or her mother would simply take her friend away from her if the bitch ever found out how close they were becoming.

With her eyes drawn to the bottle of scotch that Lex left out she half got up to pour herself another glass, just one more to take the edge off but then her friend whined in her sleep and held out her hands like she wanted to be hugged. Glancing at the bottle of booze first and then down at her friend, she shifted into place on the couch next to the sleeping blonde, mindful of her wounds she wrapped her arms around the girl’s strong body before pulling the blanket over them both.

“I’ve got you… I’m not going anywhere darling,” she whispered and felt those strong arms hugging her back like she was a human-sized teddy bear.

Strong, Tesla’s Coils she was incredibly strong, she thought as powerful but surprisingly gentle arms squeezed her and she found herself cuddling into the crook of her friend’s neck unable to resist the urge. This wasn’t smart, but like she always rebelled against her mother’s orders she now rebelled against her common sense. All she needed to do was to stay awake and once her Farmgirl calmed down she’d slip away from the girl’s arms, no harm, no foul, but for now what was the harm in allowing herself to feel safe if only for a moment?

* * *

Rao, everything hurt and her eyelids felt heavy like that engine she had lifted out of the old tractor back at the farm, but the pain in her thigh was gone and she could smell fruits mixed with scotch and leather. Hold on, the last thing she remembered was crashing outside Lena’s window, and then things had gotten a bit blurry. Something about a hoodie and what was that smell and why was she hearing two heartbeats and why was she warm?

Cracking one eye open Zor-El, saw that she was in a very nice apartment, but not Lena’s, then she felt someone shifting next to her and slowly looking down in fear as she felt that old panic rising she saw the top of someone’s head, someone with raven-black hair and who smelled just like Lena.

Closing her eyes again, she tried to calm herself down, there had to be an explanation for why she was on a strange couch with Lena Luthor sleeping half on top of her with an arm wrapped around her. Arms! Hands! Opening her eyes slowly she saw that she was carefully holding Lena’s petite frame with one hand on the girl’s lower back and then the other holding her pale hand.

Think, Zor-El, think, you went to Lena for help, Lena got you help, and then you passed out and snuggled. Hold on, why am I wearing my hoodie, and whose shorts are those? Stylish though. Oh, right delirium, she might still be delirious from the Kryptonite poisoning. Where is it? Did Lena take it? Rao, she’s soft and smells like a fruit snack, should I wake her up?

Looking down at Lena, she could see that the pale girl wore only a blank tank top and loose-fitting boyfriend jeans with fluffy socks on her feet and it was really quite adorable to see her friend like this. Deciding to let her sleep, she carefully let go of the green-eyed girl’s hand as she managed to extract herself from underneath the petite girl’s body and with some quick thinking replaced herself with a pillow so as to not wake the girl up.

Looking down at her hoodie that smelled strongly like Lena and wiggling her toes in her mismatched socks, hoping that nobody had noticed them, she set about finding out where she was in the world. Picking up a blanket she’d almost tripped over and putting it over Lena’s sleeping form she did a quick X-ray sweep revealing a man in the kitchen making coffee and a quick look outside the window told her it was morning.

Slowly making her way through what she now saw was a penthouse apartment, she saw family pictures of the Luthors and then one of a young Clark and someone who looked like Lex Luthor but with a full head of red hair taken from the looks of it back in the mid-90s. Picking it up she studied the two young men in the picture and again wondered what the story between the two of them was.

“That was taken back in Smallville, I had just blown out my knee in the football state finals and Clark well he was on the cheer squad,” an amused voice explained from right behind her causing her to spin around with a little jump but she didn’t scream because that would wake up Lena.

“Mister Luthor,” she blurted out and looked at Lena’s brother with the picture of him and Clark as teenagers still in her hands.

“Danvers, nice to meet you again,” Lex nodded and took the picture away from her before putting it back on the shelf next to a football trophy.

“I’m sorry, for any trouble I might have caused and I’ll be out of your hair, I mean your apartment as soon as Lena wakes up,” she promised and found herself staring at his bald head which for some reason made her laugh nervously.

“It’s no bother, you’re not the first stray that Lena brings to my doorstep,” he laughed quietly and waved for her to follow him into the kitchen.

“Stray?” she asked and took the offered water bottle that was handed to her by Lena’s brother. What did he mean, other girls or other aliens? Of course, Lena had other girls, there was Sam and probably girls like Anna from the Kryptonite Club too.

“Lena has the biggest heart out of all us Luthors, though she sometimes has a special way of showing it,” he explained though it answered nothing and poured himself a small cup of coffee from a Moka pot on the stove.

"She’s… a good friend..." was all she could say to that because after waking up with the green-eyed girl in her arms she was all kinds of confused.

“I had a good feeling about you that day you ran me down in the LexCorp lobby Danvers, I’m glad I wasn’t wrong,” he laughed and carefully sipped his coffee.

“And you won’t…” she asked and realized that he could tell Clark everything and even worse her cousin would then tell Lois, who would tell Eliza and Ma Kent and everything would be over and she’d be back on the farm before you could say paint the barn blue.

“Tell Clark? Not unless I want to incur the wrath of Lena, you’re off the hook for now, but show up here again battered and bruised, I will call up my old friend and we’ll catch up on old times,” he said firmly and she believed every word of it.

“Thank you, sir,” she said and again found herself almost standing at attention which made the man laugh much as Lena did.

“Though maybe you can tell me why you showed up at my sister’s apartment bleeding and bruised like that?” he asked and took a sip of his coffee while giving her a measured look with those familiar green eyes. Knowing that even though she hated it, she had to lie, she gave her answer a moment’s thought before speaking.

“I was on my way to Lena’s, but there were these guys trying to attack a girl and I stepped in,” she tried to explain while not lying outright about how she’d ended up in that fight in the alley and for once the paranoia instilled in her by the Danvers actually came in handy. 

For a moment she debated telling him everything. About what she’d found out about Compound-K in the patents she’d discovered in storage room number forty-two and what she was really doing in the Slums, maybe he could help, but no, she trusted Lena while her brother was still an unknown quantity to her and like the Danvers said the fewer people who knew something about her the better. Plus that blow to the head had knocked something loose because she couldn’t remember half of what she’d memorized from the patents, though she could distinctly remember the freckle on Eve’s shoulder and the sound the pretty receptionist made when it was kissed.

“Fair enough, but if you’re going to go around saving damsels in distress maybe look it joining the Metropolis Police Department once your internship is up, they have very nice uniforms and stab vests,” he suggested and slapped her in a friendly way on her uninjured arm. Though she was loath to admit is she felt oddly proud at having managed to lie to him.

“Yes, sir, I will look into that,” she promised though it did give her the idea that maybe she should get a bit of protection, like a suit, but she didn’t have the faintest clue where to start. Ma Kent had made Kal’s costume and she couldn’t very well go back to Smallville or could she?

“Though I do hope the next time you run into trouble that you call the police, this city already has its heroes and while I’m sure you’re capable… well, you’re still a young woman with a bright future ahead of her that could do anything you put your mind to and I would hate for that potential to be snuffed out in an alley somewhere,” he told her in a deep and concerned voice and she felt like that he could see right through her flimsy lies about what she’d been doing the night before.

“I… I don’t think I can ever look the other way, that girl needed my help and it was the right thing to do,” she said at first unsure but slowly finding her voice and her strength even though all this lying was making her sick to her stomach. Superman didn’t come to the Slums, the police aside from Officer Sawyer didn’t come there either and thus she was all that those people had. Though even if she wasn't being truthful about why she dressed up in black and went out to help the people who lived in the Slums, she couldn’t come up with a better answer than that it was because it was the right thing to do.

“Lex, leave her alone,” Lena’s voice almost growled from the entrance to the kitchen which caused her to look over Lex's shoulder and almost drop her water bottle at the sight that greeted her eyes.

The raven-haired girl looked a little sleepy or maybe hungover with her black hair loose and wild almost down to her waist, no make-up on, and wrapped up in the blanket she’d put over the girl when she’d left her on the couch, but despite the sleepiness, she could see Lena’s green eyes boring into Lex’s skull and there was something fierce about how she looked. 

“I’ll leave you two to talk, but think about what you could do Danvers if you’d channel your talents elsewhere,” Lex offered and saluted her with his cup of coffee before beating a hasty retreat from the kitchen and from Lena’s piercing gaze and then her eyes met Lena’s brilliant green ones. Rao, they’re even greener when she’s just woken up, again the thought came unabated to her mind.

“Hi…” she said after a moment of awkward silence between them and Lena looked very small wrapped up in the blanket while rubbing her arms.

“Hi…” Lena said back but didn’t move from her spot in the entrance to the kitchen and she could see the pale girl was hugging herself tighter.

“I’m sorry I scared you… again,” she apologized and took a step closer to her friend while fiddling with the water bottle in her hands.

“It’s becoming a habit of yours, and not a good one,” the green-eyed girl said in a quiet voice and she wanted to hug her for some reason.

“I’m not fond of it either, actually, it kinda freaking hurts,” she laughed and rotated her shoulder where the green blade had cut into her flesh.

“Careful, you heal fast but Lex had to patch you up a lot and I should take a look at you,” Lena offered and that would mean the hoodie had to come off, and she could feel that she didn't have her tank top on anymore and that would mean Lena would see things or maybe she’d already seen them.

“I…” she stammered and it was her turn to hug herself, yes she’d let Eve touch her in the storage room but that had been her choice, sent her that picture which again had been her in control, but nobody had seen her exposed like that in person and she felt very vulnerable after being on the losing end of that fight.

“Hey, it’s me, you don’t have to be worried,” the now concerned girl offered sweetly and she hugged herself tighter while having to beat back a tidal wave of doubts and fears that rose up in her mind before she repeated her mantra about how she was free in Rao’s flame.

“Can… can we go somewhere more private at least?” she asked, feeling very small all of a sudden and Lena gave a nod before leading her into one of the penthouse’s spacious bathrooms.

With the door closing behind them, she started pulling the hoodie carefully up over her head being mindful of her shoulder, but then she froze upon remembering that Lena was here, that she was topless and some of those old fears came roaring back despite her having beaten them back a moment ago. The sight of Lena then dropping the blanket from around her petite frame didn't help matters either because compared to the flawless looking pale girl she must have looked like a mess.

“Farmgirl, what’s wrong? Lena asked with her voice laced with worry as she rushed closer to check up on her and the soft look on that pale face made her heart start beating faster.

“Can… can you turn around, please?” she asked shyly worried what the green-eyed girl might think if she saw her like this after she'd lost, been beaten, was bruised and maybe she wasn't as strong as she'd thought.

“Danvers… you don’t have to be afraid, it’s just me… and you trust me right?” the green-eyed girl asked softly, and she felt like she was shaking like a leaf, but she gave a nod.

“I do... can you help me? My shoulder is a bit sore still,” she finally admitted and with a gentle smile Lena helped her carefully pull the hoodie up over her head but with those green eyes closed out of respect for her decency.

“See, nothing to worry about,” the green-eyed girl whispered while still keeping her green eyes closed as she covered up her breasts by crossing her arms over her chest. For a moment she couldn't help but compare herself to Lena. The black tank top that her friend had on barely contained her large pale breasts while hers were easily hidden by her crossing her arms over them. They were different that's all it was and she didn't look at Lena thinking that she wanted to be like the pale girl, rather she had to stop herself from thinking about who these other girls were that Lex had called strays and if they'd gotten to touch Lena. But she put those thoughts down residual delirium caused by blood loss and hunger. Yep, that had to be it! 

“You can open your eyes,” she muttered once she'd ogled her friend for long enough as she reminded herself that Lena had seen her like this before at the gym, but this felt more intimate and they hadn’t woken up together back when that had happened.

“I’m going to touch you, alright?” Lena asked gently once she opened her eyes and she could feel the girl’s hand hovering against her arm. All of a sudden, her arms didn’t feel like they were covering enough of her body and she felt awkward and scared.

“I… don’t like people seeing me, or touching me unless I want them to and I’m sorry I’m being like this,” she blurted out but was only met with understanding green eyes as a gentle pale hand on her arm urged her to turn around which she did.

“We talked about this, you’re strong, powerful and I understand,” Lena said softly while getting up on her toes to get a better look, and she hissed when cool and gentle fingers touched the patched-up wound on the back of her shoulder.

“I don’t feel very strong or particularly powerful right now,” she admitted and tried to look over her shoulder back at the pale girl who was checking up on the small cut on her arm that was mostly healed but still bandaged.

“You are strong, the strongest girl I know, and you’re still my hero,” Lena said firmly and guided her to sit down on the edge of the mammoth bathtub that took up a large part of the bathroom.

Pausing for a moment, Lena retrieved a towel and handed it to her with closed eyes so she could wrap it around her chest to better cover herself up. Something about how the green-eyed girl understood her weird and messy issues made her feel calmer as her heartbeat slowed down again though she kinda wished Lena would cover up a bit too. 

“I’m going to touch your bruises, okay?” the green-eyed girl asked and again she gave a quick nod. Watching Lena’s delicate pale fingers rubbing against the bruises that covered her arms and shoulders she tried not to hiss at the pleasant sensation.

“Did that hurt?” her friend asked when she tensed up and she shook her head before fighting back a gulp as Lena moved down to the floor in front of her while looking up at her with gentle eyes.

“I need to push up the shorts, is that alright?” the green-eyed girl asked her permission again while kneeling in front of her and this time she gulped but nodded while feeling better at being somewhat covered by the fluffy white towel.

The moment she felt Lena’s fingers push the leg of the shorts up her thigh she got goosebumps all over her arms and legs, but Lena flashed her a reassuring smile before pushing the shorts up far enough to reveal the patched up stab wound in her thigh that was already healing up thanks to her own accelerated metabolism and Lex Luthor’s handiwork. Reaching down she gently touched around the wound with her fingers but then her fingertips brushed against Lena’s pale hand.

“Careful, but it’s already looking much better, you had me really worried last night,” the green-eyed girl assured her and gave her hand a squeeze as they both went silent at the touch.

“I’ll be fine… once I get some sun,” she whispered but it was barely audible and that brought out the raised eyebrow of doom from her green-eyed friend.

“I’m… I’m a Kryptonian,” she whispered her admission or at least a part of it and looked away when Lena’s emerald eyes widened at the revelation.

“So that thing I pulled out of your…” the girl’s voice trailed off as she only gave a nod in reply. It had to have been Kryptonite, it couldn’t have been anything else not with how weak it had made her feel.

“Where is it?” she asked and Lena looked around, ran to check on the door, locked it and then ran back before sitting next to her on the edge of the bathtub.

“At home in my jewelry box, it’s safe there, I installed my own security systems, and boy am I glad I lied my ass off to Lex now,” the green-eyed girl whispered. Hold on, she thought, Lena had lied for her, about why she was injured and for some reason that made her want to hug the pale girl again.

“Thank you, you didn’t need to do that, but you need to get it into a lead container or a box of some sort,” she replied, and the green-eyed girl gave her an impressed look.

“What are friends for right… does... does your family know?” Lena asked the most logical question and she tried to answer but the words wouldn’t come out since she hadn’t thought about how this would play out before now.

“No, don’t tell me and I won’t ask for details, secret identities and all that, but like if whoever attacked you…” Lena started speaking faster and she could see that brilliant mind at work behind those luminous green eyes.

“Intergang,” she supplied, and the green-eyed girl gave a nod as she accepted the new information without missing a beat.

“If Intergang attacked you with Kryptonite no less then something bigger is going on in the Slums than just street-level crime, that stuff should even exist outside of a lab,” Lena concluded while tapping a finger to her cheek and clearly putting her brain to work.

“I’ll figure it out,” she declared and stood up too fast which caused the still-healing wounds to pull painfully and the towel covering her up to almost drop.

“Or not…” she groaned sitting back down and right away Lena was inspecting her for any damage, and she felt cared for, safe and all sorts of other things she put down to blood loss and delirium.

“You need to heal up before you do anything and I need to figure out how to keep you safe,” the green-eyed girl declared and she gave a grunt and a smile while fixing the towel around her chest to keep it from slipping.

“I can arrange for you to have a day or two off since it’s almost the weekend, you got anywhere you can go with plenty of sunshine?” Lena asked when the girl was satisfied that she wasn’t bleeding and again she was amazed at how accepting this girl was.

“Smallville, the farm there, but I can’t afford a ticket,” she admitted, and it would be the best place, a few days on the farm with Ma Kent’s cooking and she would be right as rain.

“Let me worry about that, so when are we going?” Lena offered and that shocked her, had the pale girl just invited herself along to Smallville?

“I don’t think Smallville is a place for someone like you,” she blurted out as she panicked again, worried about all sorts of things that this trip would imply if anyone would look into it closely.

“Nonsense, you need to heal up and I need to make sure you don’t strain yourself. Look, we’re in this whatever it is you’re doing together now. End of discussions,” the green-eyed and bossy girl declared with a grin and she wanted to say no, tried to say no, but in the end, it came out as a yes.

“Fine, but be warned it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before,” she conceded with a smirk of her own, and impulsively Lena gave her a hug while being mindful of her shoulder. Seemingly glad at being accepted without an argument and she guessed a side-kick wouldn’t be a bad thing to have.

“Oh, I don’t know, I’ve experienced a lot of things,” the green-eyed girl impishly declared, and she wondered how she was going to survive four days alone with this girl in the small Kent farmhouse.

“I’m sure you have, but please I don’t need the details and can you maybe give me a ride home?” she asked while sheepishly realizing that she was wearing only shorts and a hoodie, didn’t know where she was, didn’t have any cash and probably couldn’t jump anywhere for a few days.

“Of course, now what do I pack for this trip of ours?” Lena asked with a wide smile and there was something about the excitement in the girl’s voice that was infectious.

“Sensible clothes, you have those right?” she teased the green-eyed girl who gave her a slightly miffed look in response.

“I’m not all heels and skirts Danvers,” the pale girl defended herself while letting her go from the hug she’d been enjoying.

“No, you’re also sneakers, band t-shirts and tight jeans kind of girl,” she countered and then blushed at how easily she’d remember that while again having her eyes drawn to the tank top barely containing Lena's breasts.   
She’s your friend, she's dating Sam who has an adorable kid that you can't compete with, and you don't need to make your life a bigger mess, so knock it off Zor-El, the voice in her head reminded her loudly to stop this nonsense.

“Oh, thanks for noticing, but you left out thigh-high socks and killer dresses,” Lena teased her right back and she wanted to fill up the bath with water and drown herself at how easily the green-eyed girl could make her awkwardly blush.

“Well you’re welcome!” was her lame comeback to that which made Lena laugh and Rao she loved that laughter and it only got louder when her stomach grumbled loudly at not being full at this time of day.

“Oh wow, let’s get you some pizza to go to feed that beast and get you home Farmgirl,” Lena laughed at the sound and she sheepishly allowed herself to be redressed with Lena’s close-eyed help before being led to the elevator after stuffing her feet into her black boots which made her look ridiculous in her mismatched getup.

“We’re leaving Lex, thanks for the help!” Lena called out as she pressed the button to call up the elevator only for the bald man to poke his head out of what she guessed was his home office.

“Take care of yourself Danvers, and the only way I want to see you back here is for dinner someday. Oh, and keep the shorts, Lena, you be nice to this one you hear,” he declared while Lena just waved at him sarcastically in response to his jab.

“Thank you again Mister Luthor,” she called out cheerfully, but Lena was already pulling her into the elevator that had arrived with a ding.

Smallville here we come! Well, once she’d called Lois to tell her about it and then Ma Kent to warn her about the tornado that was Lena Luthor that was about to blow into town. Looking down at the brilliant girl standing next to her in the elevator she reached down and gave her pale hand a squeeze as her silent way of saying thank you for everything and it made Lena look up at her and smile. They held hands until they reached the green-eyed girl’s little red sports car parked in the basement at which point, she had to somehow fold her tall frame into it for the ride home which amused her friend to no end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, Lena called Lex and he just helped no questions asked, what's up with that? :) Before you go all boo Lex is evil, remember that this is set in the past, both girls lied their butts off to him and he's not evil yet and maybe Kara being around will stop him from going down that path.
> 
> Now, this was my first "split perspective" chapter for this story, there will be a few more of these because I like torturing you guys with how clueless Kara is and how stubborn Lena is being in equal measure ;)
> 
> Next up, the girls get on a plane headed for Smallville, Lena gets jealous of a flight attendant, Danvers googles what the Mile High Club is, Lois Lane motherly grills our Farmgirl and Ma Kent has questions about why Lena has all this luggage with her and tries to teach the young genius how to make an apple pie.


	10. Mile High Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the flight to Smallville, courtesy of the LexCorp private jet, both Danvers and Lena struggle in their own unique way. Danvers tries to keep her newly liberated sexuality under control while being a good friend to Lena. Meanwhile, Lena Luthor tries to be the good person that Danvers sees in her, though has mixed success in that regard. Strap in for an epic flight on LexCorp One from Metropolis to Smallville, some of the passengers are in for a bumpy ride!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick pre-note for once. This was supposed to be just one scene that ballooned into a chapter of its own. The Farmgirl Kara frying Lena's brain chapter is coming I promise!

Danvers had never flown this fancy before she decided when she boarded the plane Lena had arranged for them for their trip to Smallville. It didn’t help that she felt woefully underdressed for the flight. Although she was wearing her new jeans, thanks to Lois, they were topped off with a well-worn and a slightly too tight Wonder Woman t-shirt and a pair of high-top sneakers. While she watched Lena’s luggage being loaded she also felt out of place with her red duffel bag slung over one shoulder with the thick-rimmed glasses on her face and her blonde even more unruly than usual hair that was overdue for a cut in her now go-to tactical ponytail. 

So, from the moment she’d seen the LexCorp Gulfstream Jet, which she nicknamed LexCorp One, on the tarmac she’d kept worrying about being thrown off it right up until it took off from Metropolis Airport towards the small airstrip outside of Smallville. Though she had to admit that whenever Lena Luthor did something she did it in style and when the girl had picked her up at the crack of dawn with her red sportscar stuffed to the brim with matching luggage, that was a lot of luggage for four nights, she’d known she was in for something special. 

Immediately upon stepping onto the private plane a very nice flight attendant with friendly brown eyes and a pixie-cut chestnut brown hair topped with a green stewardess hat on her head sporting the LexCorp logo had tried to take her duffel bag to stow it away, of course, but the poor woman had almost tumbled to the ground underneath the weight of it and maybe she’d overstuffed it a little bit. Taking the bag away from the poor struggling flight attendant with one hand she smiled and set about stowing it away by herself.

“Is there anything else I can help you with, ma'am?” she asked politely with a smile while stretching a bit to put the bag in the overhead compartment. The stretching had the added effect in which it made her Wonder Woman t-shirt ride up her stomach, but it couldn’t be helped. Don’t panic Zor-El, if Eve likes looking then ergo other girls will like it too, she reminded herself. That was her new mantra: Don’t panic Zor-El.

"N--no I... I... it's fine, thank you,” the flight attendant stammered and turned away to head to the front of the cabin but her sensitive ears picked up some whispers from the woman’s lips. Because lately, she had gotten more relaxed about using her enhanced senses in her daily life, since it wasn’t something anybody could see and it helped her to stay alert for trouble following her disastrous outing in the Slums that had led to this little getaway with Lena for the purposes of her healing up, even though she was already on the mend.

“I should be asking her that! God, those arms…” she heard the flight attendant whispering and looking down at her arms that the tight t-shirt did indeed show off to some degree, but she shrugged. Let them stare, she thought but still pulled her t-shirt down to cover up her abs though because there was no need to be lewd by showing off all the time. Manners maketh the man after all like Pa Kent was prone to declare.

Before she could close the compartment she’d stuffed her duffel bag in, however, she caught the flight attendant looking back at her over her shoulder and she flashed the woman a bright smile and feeling brave she added a wink over the rim of her glasses. That earned her a shy smile, a blush, and a rushed walk to the small kitchen area at the front of the plane with the woman’s hips swaying back and forth in the tight green uniform skirt that she wore.

Walking to her seat, which was easy to find since they were the only two passengers on the plane which had like eight seats total, and feeling pretty good about herself for once, she was met by Lena’s gaze that was both amused and slightly annoyed. The pale girl’s eyes were shimmering with barely contained mirth and she knew a teasing was coming when her friend put down the tablet she’d been reading as she took a seat facing her friend. Though this was very cool since she’d never ridden facing backward on a plane before!

"You're not joining the Mile High club today, Farmgirl,” Lena declared with a smirk and she could see a hint of that dreaded raised eyebrow of doom, patent-pending, copyright Lena Luthor.

"The what now? Me and clubbing don’t mix, remember?" she reminded her friend while having no idea what the pale girl meant and she looked around the plane to which Lena rolled her eyes and laughed quietly, before going back to her tablet. You had to bring up the clubbing disaster didn't you, she chastised herself. 

"Never mind, just buckle your seatbelt and I hope you're hungry because the inflight meal is amazing, LexCorp has the best chefs,” the green-eyed girl told her sweetly without looking up and shook her head. Right away she felt excited as her stomach grumbled its agreement to the idea of a meal.

Having a few minutes to spare before take-off she brought out her beat-up old phone. Feeling like she owed Eve Teschmacher at least an explanation for why she wasn’t at work today, she opened up their conversation from the last time they’d exchanged texts and started carefully typing with her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth in concentration. 

_Hi, thanks for last time, wanted to let you know that I’m going to go home for a few days so be good_ , she wrote out and then added a winky face emoji behind the text before hitting send and the reply was instant.

 _Okay don't make me regret not going out with you Danvers, but is everything okay?_ the reply from the honey-blonde receptionist read and for some reason Eve being worried about her made her smile, but she couldn’t tell the girl the truth.

 _A little homesick that's all, I'll be back on Monday if you want to meet up,_ she texted back a half-truth and then feeling brave asked the girl to meet up for another friends-with-benefits encounter

 _Is that an order daddy?_ the reply read, and she fought tooth and nail not to blush with Lena across from her still tapping away at her tablet.

 _Behave yourself Miss Teschmacher, but yes it is,_ she wrote back and for the first time she didn’t feel awkward talking to the pretty receptionist like this.

 _Oh, I wish I wasn’t getting ready for work, but can I ask you something?_ Eve’s reply read and at super-speed, her mind ran through the roughly twenty or so most likely questions the girl wanted to ask.

 _Of course, ask away and oh are you wearing that blue dress to work today?_ she typed while being unable to fight back a grin at the memory of the honey-blonde girl in said blue dress and Rao she was becoming just the worst when it came to girls.

 _Wouldn’t you like to know, now I know this is a touchy subject haha but… next time will you let me touch you? I want to make you feel good…_ the message started out bold and brash but ended up sounding almost adorable and shy in her head as she read it. Don’t panic Zor-El!

 _You make me feel amazing by just being you, but yes you can,_ she wrote back before waiting a few seconds before hitting send though she had no idea how she was going to pull that promise off.

 _I'll be gentle I promise, look I get it okay and we don't have to talk about it if you don’t want to,_ the honey-blonde receptionist replied and she again wondered if she should extend another offer of a date or just keep things casual. Casual was simple, but right now the girl was being too sweet for her to handle in her slightly battered and bruised state.

 _Thank you, I appreciate that and I’ll see you Monday for 'lunch'_? she wrote back instead and double down on her status as a benefits friend with Eve Teschmacher. 

_Tenth floor, empty office, it has a lock,_ the reply came and for a few seconds before replying she thought about all the things she wanted to do to Miss Teschmacher in said office.

 _Did we do our research babygirl?_ she typed back with a huge grin and hit send without even thinking twice.

 _Maybe... Am I in trouble?_ The reply and the way too loud vibration of her phone indicating a picture message almost made her drop it as Lena gave her a raised eyebrow before going back to her reading.

 _No but you ARE trouble and wow!_ she replied after seeing the picture which she took a sneaky look at. It wasn’t anything obscene, just Eve, wrapped up in a towel pouting at the camera while looking fresh out of the shower, but it got the point across. Though what that point was she didn't have the mental capacity right then to answer.

 _I like being trouble for you but work calls I'm afraid, are you sure you’re okay?_ the reply came with a screen full of smiley faces and she smiled as she carefully typed back.

 _I’m fine, promise, see you on Monday Miss Teschmacher,_ she typed and thanked Rao that her phone’s autocorrect now remembered how to spell the girl’s last name.

 _Look forward to it, have fun at home!_ The last message read with a kissy face attached to it and she replied with one of her own. 

“What’s got you all happy?” Lena asked absentmindedly from across the table between them with one green eye looking up from her tablet. While trying to figure out how best to answer that one, she did note that today Lena had busted out a tailored dark blue suit, paired with a white NASA t-shirt that could only be described as low cut at the neck with her sunglasses tucked into the neckline and white sneakers on her feet.

“It’s embarrassing,” she admitted, the memory of Lena bursting in on her and Eve still fresh in her mind and she allowed herself to blush this time.

“Fine keep your Eve Teschmacher texting to yourself,” the green-eyed girl laughed and how had she known? Rao, had she's been talking out loud, not hidden her phone when she looked at that picture Eve sent, or could Lena simply tell that her eyes were wandering to every cute girl she came across these days? 

“How?” she asked and hugged her phone to her chest and she decided that maybe Lena was telepathic, or that theoretically she could have some form of tech-telepathy? 

“Well I didn’t know anything right up until you pulled that face,” the green-eyed girl laughed and mimicked her shocked expression as she looked around for something to throw at her good friend. Because she'd just been social-engineered by the best of them.

“Honestly Farmgirl, I thought you were just Googling the Mile High club,” Lena then teased her with a smirk on her lips and actually, that wasn’t a bad idea she thought even as at a loss for a good comeback she stuck her tongue out in response to which the pale girl gave her best innocent expression which she didn't' buy for a hot second.

Then her impulsiveness kicked in and she quickly Googled the term Mile High Club while trying to be sneaky about it. What she read made her blush, first she thought about Eve, but then she gave a glance backward to the front of the plane where the flight attendant in her tight green skirt and white blouse over very distracting breasts, not that she was checking her out or anything, was preparing their pre-flight drinks and then she threw her in-flight pillow straight into Lena’s face when the girl chuckled.

“Lena Luthor!” she declared in a shocked whisper while blushing bright red, though the idea wasn’t a bad one and the pixie-haired flight attendant in her LexCorp Air green uniform was extremely pretty, but she couldn’t do something like what she was thinking with Lena around. It wouldn’t be fair to her friend and despite her own preference for storage room hookups, she did prefer a smidge of privacy. 

“Oh, she knows Google-Fu too, but hands off the help... this time, some of us are too hungover to have to listen in,” Lena laughed and tossed the pillow back at her but she simply caught it before it could make contact with her face.

Hold on, why was Lena hungover on a weekday morning, but before she could ask if her friend was alright or if she’d had another run-in with Lillian Luthor. The flight attendant arrived with a smile on her lips with their drinks and effectively putting a stop to the impromptu pillow fight and her worried musings about her friend.

“Here is your drink Miss Luthor as requested in the rider and a club soda for you Miss Danvers,” the woman said sweetly and placed the drinks in front of them. A rider? Lena must have given the crew instructions before they boarded. 

“Thank you ma’am, and it’s just Danvers please,” she thanked the woman and took the offered drink with a smile and then sniffed the drink Lena was having from across the table between them, it smelled strong and very alcoholic, in other words not good.

“Very well, Danvers, let me know if there is anything else you need,” the flight attendant who had the name K. Saunders on her name tag offered.

“Ooh-oh, do you have those little bags of peanuts, please?” she asked excitedly and that earned her a smile from Miss Saunders and another eye roll from Lena before the pale and hungover girl resumed her reading.

“I’ll see what I can find,” the flight attendant offered and stroked her arm, which for once didn’t make her flinch, in fact, the gentle touch was quite enjoyable. This trip was starting to feel like a great idea!

Settling back in the comfy seat she thought back on what she’d had to do to convince people that she should take off for Smallville on this little weekend getaway. Because after Lena had invited herself along on the trip it had meant that she’d have to sit through two awkward phone calls. The first one, with Lois, had gone a bit better than expected, though the ace reporter had been full of questions and thinking back on it she could have been a lot smoother when giving her answers the night before.

* * *

Pacing around her bedroom, and stuffing things into her duffel bag at random as she packed for the trip the next day, she kept losing track of the mental checklist of what she would need to bring and what could be left behind. This was only a short trip, but she wanted to be prepared for anything, but Lois’ questions weren’t helping her stay focused on the task at hand.

“Let me get this straight, you and Lena Luthor, your de facto boss, are going to Smallville for a long weekend together because she wants to see the farm?” Lois asked over the phone and she heard the woman typing on her laptop at the same time as she cradled the phone to her cheek.

“Yes, it’s been hectic at LexCorp and we’ve been talking and she’s really curious about it,” she lied through her teeth and hated it, but it was also kinda true.

“And she arranged for your days off too? You sure know how to pick your friends, sunshine,” Lois asked next and she could hear the smile and the implication in the woman’s voice.

“We’re just friends, promise, I’m not like doing anything like that... with her I mean,” she defended herself and she’d walked right into Lois’ trap.

“Oh, so who are you doing these ‘things’ with then?” the reporter asked, and she again gave serious consideration to running a bath and drowning herself in it out of embarrassment and shame.

“Ewww, none of your business,” she exclaimed and that made Lois chuckle as she blushed thinking about Eve all flushed and half-naked in the storage room at LexCorp. Though now was not the time or the place for a trip down memory lane even though she’d taken a few trips already with her mind and fingers.

“Well if you ever move onto something more serious, I would love to meet her, him or them,” Lois said letting her off the hook and she, of course, blurted out the first thing she that came to her mind.

“Her, definitely her,” she blurted out and this time Lois Laughed over the phone and she groaned and bit into the fabric of her hoodie, recently returned and still smelling like Lena, out of frustration at how easily the reporter could get her to admit things. 

“Well when or if things get serious with this mysterious her, you bring her home for dinner understand?” Lois asked while sounding sweet and caring which made her drop the fabric of her hoodie from between her teeth.

“Of course, I mean it’s not serious or anything but if it becomes hypothetically serious, I’ll definitely bring any hypothetical hers, hims, or them, over to meet you guys,” she babbled feeling flustered but she could hear that the reporter was simply being worried for her sake. 

Though as sweet as Eve was, she suspected based on her words in the storage room about how they could just be casual that the pretty receptionist wouldn’t be the girl she took home to mother.

“And whatever you do, please be careful, I mean it sunshine, but don’t tell Clark this but I’m glad you’re having fun,” her Metropolis mom told her and she could hear the love and affection in her voice.

“I wouldn’t call it fun... but are you sure it’s okay I go, I’ve cleaned the apartment, taken out the trash and the dishwasher is almost done, so it will be clean once you get back from Gotham,” she blurted out like she was thirteen on Krypton again and trying to convince her mother to let her come with to the Science Guild and darted around the apartment while making sure it was spotless. Well, she darted as well as the still healing stab wound in her thigh would allow.

“Sunshine, Kara, you’re almost twenty, you don’t need to ask my permission,” Lois said softly and that made her stop in her tracks as she was pacing around the apartment aimlessly now.

“Well it feels like I should,” she mumbled and picked at the front of her hoodie while debating if she should vacuum the apartment one more time before leaving for Smallville.

“Go, have fun, let me know how a city girl like Lena Luthor likes the farm, lord knows it was a shock to me the first time Clark took me there,” her Metropolis mom laughed and that made her smile because, despite her nerves, she couldn’t wait to show Lena the farm. 

“I will, you think Ma will like her?” she asked without thinking about how it sounded and that meant the return of investigative reporter Lois Lane.

“I’m sure she’ll adore her, but are you sure there isn’t anything more between the two of you? I won’t get mad, promise, it’s only that… well the farm is something deeply personal to you and your cousin,” Lois asked gently while clearly trying not to upset her feelings.

“She’s… she’s dating someone, so no there isn’t anything else between us and things are… messy enough in her life without me adding to that,” she admitted, and she could hear the gentle sigh in Lois’s voice. After all, she’d already dragged the pale girl into her vigilantism though technically Lena had invited herself into that misadventure while leaving no room for arguments. 

“Well, you have your cousin’s big heart that’s for sure, and maybe yours is even bigger,” her Metropolis Mom told her and she wondered if she should tell Clark everything once he came back from Rao only knew where.

“Thank you… will you be home soon, I miss you... and Clark,” she said and curled up on the couch where they sometimes had game nights over pizza. Maybe she could even invite Lena someday and where had that thought come from?

“Once I manage to get Bruce Wayne to give up the goods for this story I will come back, as for Clark, well he’s God knows where,” Lois promised and she could hear the worry in the woman’s voice.

“I’m sure he’s fine... out there,” she said and touched her hand to her still bandaged shoulder while feeling like she should tell Lois about what had happened, but she didn’t want her to worry. The woman would also no doubt try to talk her out of it, especially if she found out that she’d been hurt.

“I know, he always comes back, it’s what he does,” the reporter murmured, and she wondered how Lois did what she did. Waved her cousin off on all these missions he went on as Superman and then could do nothing but wait and worry. Would she do that to someone one day too? Leave some poor girl at home worrying about her like Lena had worried when she showed up beaten and bruised at the pale girl’s doorstep?

* * *

“Earth to Farmgirl,” Lena called out, which snapped her out of her memories, and she looked up to see the pale-skinned girl waving at her from across the table that separated their seats. 

“Yes?” she asked while blinking her eyes a few times to focus on the here and now while the green-eyed girl gave her a bemused looked. 

Lena crossed her legs showing off yet another pair of fresh from the box sneakers and it made her unconsciously rub the toe of her new high-tops against the back of her leg. They along with the jeans had been a gift from Lois, even though they had been bought online while they shared a video-call the other night, but the fact her Metropolis Mom tried her best always warmed her heart.

“You were really far away there for a few minutes, the bandages aren’t hurting, are they?” Lena asked while sounding genuinely concerned before taking another sip from her drink. 

“No, I was just thinking about my family, I miss them,” she replied and that made the green-eyed girl give her a sad smile.

“I wouldn't know anything about missing family,” Lena joked acidly, and she had to fight not to clench her fists in front of the pale girl as her anger rose because this brilliant woman deserved so much better.

“Mister Luthor didn’t seem too bad, he’s actually kinda nice,” she countered and emptied her glass of club soda to calm her bristling anger.

“Lex is a serviceable big brother, that’s true, but the rest of them... Oh, your in-flight snack is coming back,” the green-eyed girl started saying something but then as usual dodged out of the question by teasing her.

The flight attendant arrived with her peanuts on a small tray that also included a few pieces of very expensive looking chocolate and another glass of club soda for her to wash it all down with. Smiling at the woman, she glanced at Lena who was glaring at them with barely contained disdain or was it anger or maybe even sadness in her green eyes. It was confusing how quickly the mercurial girl could go from gentle teasing to deadly serious. 

“Thank you, Miss Saunders,” she nodded politely to the flight attendant and could hear Lena going back to her LexCorp branded tablet with a loud huff.

“Call me Kendra, and you can just push the button over there if you need anything else,” the flight attendant told her and leaned over her to show her said button on the armrest of her seat, while also giving her an eyeful of the uniform that the woman wore and her full and rounded breasts. The idea of the Mile High Club all of a sudden came to the forefront of her mind again but she clamped down on her horn-doggedness firmly.

“Thank you, so Kendra, have you been working for LexCorp for a long time?” she asked while making small talk since Lena seemed to have found something more interesting on her tablet to occupy her time again and small talk meant she could keep her eyes where they belonged on the woman’s face. 

“Five years, started with the passenger airline and then worked my way up to the big leagues, I just love to fly,” the flight attendant replied sounding quite proud of herself and perched herself on the armrest of the seat she was sitting in.

“Do you enjoy it because it looks like a lot of work?” she asked, and this was the result of growing up surrounded by scientists and reporters, she always had questions.

Kendra glanced at Lena before leaning in close to whisper something into her ear and she wondered why the woman seemed almost afraid of her friend across from them scanning the tablet with her luminous green eyes. 

“It’s fun most of the time, I get to go to all these amazing places, but sometimes it’s really hard with some of the passengers,” the flight attendant spoke in her ear with a small grin and shifted slightly closer to her which caused Lena to clear her throat loudly.

“Well I’m sorry we aren’t flying anywhere amazing today on LexCorp One, though Smallville is kinda cool,” she chuckled and the flight attendant was nearly in her lap now, which a part of her didn’t mind but it didn’t feel quite right with Lena this close by.

“Means a shorter workday for me, it will be good to be off my feet while we wait on standby for you, and LexCorp One that's a good one I've got to remember that,” the flight attendant shrugged and gave her a smile at the nickname she'd given to the plane. That 'you' though somehow sounded more like a singular you rather than referring to her and Lena.

“You’re staying in Smallville?” she asked, and she wondered if this was how the Luthors always traveled or if Lena was just trying to show off a little.

“Yes, got any good ideas for places to visit there, I love taking pictures,” the flight attendant asked and shifted a little bit closer to her yet again. Ignoring her worries for a moment she smiled and after all the woman was nice, had a cute voice, a lovely dark complexion and looked good in green.

“You have to try out the Olsen Diner, it’s simple food but it's amazing! You won’t regret it, then if you go down to the river you can walk up towards the waterfalls, they’re so pretty, and if you’re brave enough you can go for a swim in the Devil’s pond,” she started listing off some of her favorite things to do in Smallville and in Kendra she found a rapt audience, but every so often Lena would look up over her tablet at them with one of those unreadable looks on her pale face.

“The Devil’s pond sounds a bit scary,” the flight attendant giggled and she allowed herself to laugh a little bit. At least she was getting better at talking to girls in person, which was progress from the stammering girl she'd been on arrival in Metropolis.

“It’s not really, the water is incredibly clear and on a warm summer’s day it’s just perfect for a nice cool dip, I sometimes go there and just jump right in wearing only my underwear,” she assured the woman, giving her a bright smile before realizing that she’d said too much and she could feel the eyes on her but repeating her mantra she tried to simply enjoy the attention.

“And where will you be staying?” the flight attendant, no Kendra, asked with a grin on her lips before noticing the cut on her arm. “Oh, and what happened?” she then asked in a concerned voice and touched her arm where it still had a small bandage from where Lex Luthor had patched her up the other night.

“Got clumsy,” she lied, and she could see Lena’s eyebrow rising up. “And we’re staying at my family's farm, we’re going home to visit them for a few days,” she then explained with her smile growing brighter because she couldn’t wait to see Ma and Pa Kent and to show Lena around the place she sometimes called home.

“Ah, you’re a farm girl, I should have guessed, but if you need a fresh bandage for that cut I’ve got a first aid kit that I could…” Kendra gently offered while touching her arm, but before the woman could finish her sentence she could hear the tablet Lena had been busying herself with hitting the table in front of her friend with a loud thud which made the flight attendant jump.

“Can you go tell the pilot that I would like to be off the ground and get me another drink,” Lena ordered Kendra with her friend’s usually pleasant if sarcastic voice sounding like nothing she’d ever heard before. It was frosty, slightly condescending and she didn’t like it one bit!

“Yes Miss Luthor, right away,” Kendra exclaimed while jumping to her feet, looking scared for a second before composing herself and beating a hasty retreat to the cockpit on Lena’s orders.

Turning her head, she watched the poor woman do a half run and half walk to the front of the plane again and then she looked at Lena who was again busy on her tablet. What had come over her friend, usually Lena wasn’t rude, sure a bit sarcastic and a little bossy, but never rude as she’d just witnessed.

“What was that about,” she whispered and gave her friend as firm a look as she could muster as she heard the cabin doors closing followed by the engines spinning up. 

“What was what about?” Lena asked her back and what the frick was going on here? This wasn’t her Lena, but the roar of the engines grew louder as they started rolling down the runway.

“Never mind,” she muttered, not wanting to fight with her friend at the start of their trip, putting Lena’s moodiness down to the pale girl being hungover or who knew maybe she had another fight with Lillian and wasn’t telling her about it.

With the plane taking off and her looking out the window as Metropolis grew smaller and more distant below them until it vanished into the distance, she thought back on the other phone call she’d made before getting on the plane. This one to Ma Kent, since it would be impolite to show up unannounced at the farm with Lena, moody as she was being right now, in tow. Closing her eyes, she thought back on the night before...

“Hey Ma, it’s me,” she said over the phone while still stuffing her duffel bag with most of her clothes that she’d brought to Metropolis. Packing effectively sadly was not one of her superpowers.

“Kara! How is Metropolis my dearest?” Clark’s adoptive mother and by proxy almost her grandmother it felt like at times asked over the crackling connection.

“It’s good, really good, I’m calling because I’m thinking about coming home for a few days, like tomorrow,” she said and smiled at the sound of her Ma’s voice.

“You know you’re always welcome here, but what brings this on? They’re not being mean to you in the big city are they, they used to be so mean to Clark,” Ma Kent asked and she paused when she was stuffing the black tailored suit she’d not worn since that night at the Kryptonite Club into her duffel bag, she wouldn’t need it, but she still packed it.

“No, they’re not being mean, I got some days off and well is it okay if I bring a friend?” she asked and chewed on her bottom lip because she knew what was coming. 

“Oh, like a boyfriend?” Ma asked hopefully and she fought back against the long-suffering groan that threatened to escape from her lips.

“No, just a friend-friend, her name is Lena,” she patiently replied and closed up her duffel bag with a bit more force than was maybe needed.

Ma Kent meant well, and she’d even patiently listened to her explain at least a dozen times that she liked both boys and girls. Though these days boys didn’t hold any interest for her at all and certainly not after kissing Eve Teschmacher so thoroughly. It didn’t make her mad, Ma tried her best and something like asking about boyfriends seemed to be a habit more than anything.

“That’s nice, means I won’t have to do up the guest room since you two can just share your old room,” Ma laughed and that made her panic for a second. Having woken up with Lena in her arms after she’d been injured had been confusing enough but spending four nights with the pale girl in the same room, well, she wasn’t sure how she would handle that.

“How is Pa doing?” she asked in an attempt to change the subject and holding the phone to her ear she glanced out the window towards the Slums hating not being able to go there tonight.

“He’s grumpy, mumbling about the rain not coming and fiddling with that old tractor of his, so you know, he’s happy,” Ma replied affectionately and there was something very sweet about Martha and Jonathan’s relationship that she wished she’d one day have.

“I’ll help out with the tractor when I get there, tell him not to throw out his back like last time,” she laughed and that was another part of being on the farm that she loved. Having the chance to tinker with the machines on the farm, fix them if needed, sometimes improve them or when Pa wasn’t looking take them apart and put them back together again to see how they worked.

“I’ll tell him that dear, now this friend of yours, tell me about her,” Ma asked, and she sat down on her bed crossing her legs before giving her answer some thought. Since the more she found out about Lena Luthor the more confused she’d gotten.

“Lena is, well she’s complicated,” she tried to explain the green-eyed girl to Ma Kent the best she could.

“We’re used to those don’t you worry, Clark brought a few of those complicated types home too,” Ma laughed which actually surprised her because for her it had always been Clark with Lois since she arrived on Earth and the idea of her cousin actually dating other women somehow just didn’t sit right with her.

“Hold on! Clark dated?” she asked but couldn't hold back the laughter that bubbled up out of her chest. Picturing an awkward teenage Clark taking a girl out for dates at Olsen’s Diner was too funny. 

“Of course he did, and he had friends too, don’t sound so surprised dear,” Ma declared and that gave her an idea that maybe the woman who had raised him could give her some answers.

“Was one of those friends Lex Luthor?” she asked, and she knew right away that she’d come on too strong with that question because Ma paused.

“How do you know about Alexander Luthor?” the woman asked and there was almost a biting tone to her usually gentle voice.

“Lena is his sister, and I’ve met him a couple of times… at LexCorp,” she explained and again she was chewing on her bottom lip.

“I see, well I won’t judge but you should be careful around those Luthors,” Ma Kent said, and she wondered once again what the freaking heck was the story between Clark and Lena’s big brother.

“She’s really nice, maybe a bit peculiar, but nice I promise,” she jumped to her friend’s defense because she was tired of people judging the green-eyed girl without even knowing anything about her besides the Luthor name.

“I’ll get your room ready then, now, what do you want for dinner when you come…” a sudden jolt snapped her out of her little flashback turned nap as they were flying over the mountains and the turbulence was quite bad.

Opening her eyes, she could see that Lena had gone deathly pale, her green eyes were tightly shut and she was holding onto the armrests of her seat for dear life as the plane shook again. Right away she undid her seatbelt to go check on her friend, even though she’d been rude to the flight attendant before.

“Lee, what’s wrong,” she asked and saw that Lena’s eyes were closed tight enough to make the girl frown, her fingers were digging into the armrest of the seat and she’d never looked this pale.

“Lee, I’m here,” she whispered and steadied herself when the plane shook again which made Lena open her eyes and the girl looked scared out of her mind. 

“The forecast… didn’t say there would… ah fuck… be turbulence,” the very pale girl muttered and again the plane shook violently causing her to give a small yelp.

“You… you don’t like flying, do you?” she asked as all of a sudden, a few things made sense, Lena’s heavy drinking before take-off and her rudeness towards Kendra. It was all because her friend was scared.

“No, can you get me… something to drink,” Lena grunted and begged through clenched teeth but she ignored that and clumsily climbed over her friend so she could sit in the seat next to her and hold her hand.

“It will be fine Lee, hold my hand alright, squeeze it as hard as you need to… I can take it,” she told her friend and that earned her an uncommon glare but the grip on her hand tightened right away.

“Please, Danvers, please,” her friend was begging her for a drink to calm her nerves but that wasn’t the right course of action. Also, a quick look up the aisle to the front of the plane revealed that the flight attendant was strapped down while they rode out the turbulence. 

“Lee, look at me,” she ordered her friend and interlaced the fingers on her left hand with the trembling fingers on Lena’s right.

“I’m scared,” Lena admitted as she felt the pale girl squeezing her hand with all her might, but she could take it.

“I’m not leaving you, and it’s just a bit of turbulence, well within the tolerances for the frame of a Gulfstream G700 and I know LexCorp would only hire the most qualified pilots,” she tried to reassure Lena that this would be fine. The plane shook again, and she could see Lena bite back a whine, no doubt not wanting to be seen as being afraid.

“How are you so… smart,” the very pale girl asked while actually managing to crack a smile at what she’d just said but the death grip on her hand still remained. 

“I’m all sorts of impressive didn’t you know, but I like to read, when I was missing home I would stay up all night and read whatever I could find online,” she explained and the turbulence was dying down slightly.

“You want to study aerospace engineering, right?” the green-eyed girl remembering their earliest conversations and she nodded giving the girl’s hand a squeeze back for remembering.

“Yep, and like everything else too,” she laughed as the plane shook again but not as violently and before Lena could say something else the flight attendant’s voice interrupted them.

“I’ve been informed by the pilot that we’re through the worst of the turbulence,” Kendra’s voice came over the speakers and she could hear and feel Lena’s breath of relief.

“Now that we've stopped bouncing soon we’ll be serving the in-flight meal before then getting ready for our descent toward Smallville, Kansas. Please feel free to walk around the cabin again and as the state's motto says; to the stars through difficulties,” the flight attendant went on and she felt Lena lay her head on her shoulder while chuckling.

“I’m sorry I was a bitch earlier, I just really hate flying,” the green-eyed girl whispered and looked up at her with shimmering eyes.

“You were a bit mean, but if you don’t like flying why did you offer to come with me?” she asked while surprised that Lena would put herself through something like this for her sake and ignored the smell of alcohol on her friend’s breath, though they would have to do something about that habit sooner or later.

“I told you, we’re in your little vigilantism crusade together now and I’m not letting you out of my sight until you’re healed up,” Lena declared firmly seemingly regaining her composure with the turbulence being over for now and letting go of her hand.

“Alright, but I think you should apologize to Kendra though,” she countered and glanced to the front of the plane where the green uniformed woman was preparing their meals and it smelled divine. To make sure that Lena understood that she didn’t like people being mean or rude she gave her friend her best resolute look as well. 

“But she was flirting with you, like a lot!” her friend protested but with a grin and that reminded her of what the pale girl had confessed to her in the LexCorp hallway. That she couldn’t allow herself to do what she did without worry.

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll stop it,” she offered and once again she could see a myriad of emotions flashing in Lena’s green eyes.

“No-no, you deserve to have fun and it’s not your fault that my mother is a raging sociopath that’s obsessed with appearances, ” her friend protested and that was the first time she’d managed to get the green-eyed girl to open up even a little bit about her mother.

“It’s just us on this plane, she seems very nice and I tell you what, how about you chat with her a little bit and I’ll nap? I won’t tell if you flirt a little bit too,” she offered and felt herself grinning which made Lena’s eyes grow wide as flying saucers. A part of her felt a little bad about encouraging her friend to do this, what with Sam and that cute little girl she kept having lunches with, but the girl needed to feel free just as much as she needed it.

“I couldn’t… not on a LexCorp jet, the pilots… you… it’s too risky,” Lena stammered and for the first time, she was seeing this new side to the pale girl. Not the loud and bossy Internship manager, or the flirty girl from the mall or even the clubbing rich girl from that night in the Slums. No this was Lena Luthor, a young woman who hadn’t been allowed to be herself in public in a long time it would seem, and she could relate to her very well.

“Go on, apologize to her, smile, be nice and I think you’ll find out that it’s easier than being mean and then see what happens,” she urged her friend to have a little bit of fun, much like Lena had been doing for her since they met that day in the Blue meeting room on her first day at LexCorp.

Before Lena could come up with an excuse Kendra was bringing them their meal and her mouth was already watering. Glancing sideways at Lena as the flight attendant placed their cutlery in front of them, she gave her friend a gentle nudge with her foot which made her jump slightly.

Watching out of the corner of her eye as she dug into her meal, a perfectly cooked steak, with mashed potatoes, gravy to die for and to top it off with Kendra promising her dessert she’d love. Busying herself with her maybe second favorite pastime of stuffing her face she witnessed firsthand as Lena turned on the Luthor charm and it was to, say the least, devastating to behold. 

“I apologize for being a bit abrupt before it was uncalled for,” Lena told the flight attendant while in the process making her feel proud of her friend and there was that audible chocolate in the green-eyed girl’s voice again.

“It’s alright, no need to apologize, Miss Luthor,” the flight attendant murmured and lifted the lid from Lena’s meal, but the green-eyed girl seemed much more interested in the woman now than her meal.

Observing things with a detached scientific curiosity. It was really quite the sight to behold! Since Lena didn’t flirt using only her honeyed words, but somehow employed what was a perfect harmony of calculated looks and forward and bold body language all combined into an all-out assault on the senses. 

“You are too kind, but truth be told I don’t fly very well but don’t tell anybody that,” the green-eyed girl confessed while giving the flight attendant a coy look and somehow she could make her eyes glisten as if on command, which earned the pale girl a smile from Kendra.

“My lips are sealed Miss Luthor, but if you like I’ve got some ginger tablets that might help if we encounter unstable air again,” Kendra offered with a smile and then Lena turned on the full force of her green eyes and smooth voice on the unsuspecting woman. 

“You really are on top of things, you know I’ve flown on this jet many times before but never explored it. Maybe you could give a short tour after our meal?” Lena asked and even though the line was lame, there was something in the pale girl’s voice that overcame that. 

Opting for politeness she focused on her food and the view out the window as Lena had the flight attendant laughing now and for some reason it made her feel weird, but she put it down to being a bit sore still and the turbulence hadn’t been kind to her stomach.

Another glance and she could see that the green-eyed girl had turned towards Kendra while leaning forward slightly, twisting her body in such a way that quite a few things were on display. Breasts Danvers, they’re called breasts, but it was her voice that did most of the heavy-lifting when it came to the flirting, and judging from the woman’s giggles it was working. But there was something about how confident Lena was, sure she was flaunting her body to a degree but there was power in the pale girl's body language that she could never hope to match. 

Enough with the flirting, she found herself thinking and almost wishing her friend would go back to being mean and cold towards the flight attendant like before. But no that wouldn’t be fair to Kendra and this was good for Lena’s self-esteem but why the heck did she feel so guilty and confused about it all? Pushing the worries down deep inside she enjoyed her hot chocolate sundae dessert before declaring that she was going to take a nap and giving Lena another nudge with the tip of her shoe to make the green-eyed girl agree to Kendra's offer of a tour. It was a reluctant nudge though but she also felt tired after that meal making the idea of a small nap sound amazing.

* * *

What was she doing? Why had Danvers decided to take a nap after their meal and Tesla’s Coils the flight attendant had been very nice as she gave her the tour which had ended at the back of the plane which included a small bed and a sleeping area for longer trips. Maybe she should have used the bed instead of getting drunk all those times she’d flown before. 

To say that the great Lena Luthor was having a bit of a hard time was a massive understatement. On the urging of her good friend hereafter to be referred to only as Miss 'I need a nap now you have fun', she’d started chatting with the flight attendant named Kendra Saunders. The same one that had been shamelessly flirting with her Farmgirl before takeoff. Remember that she’s not your farmgirl Luthor, she reminded herself, no you come in third place behind Eve Teschmacher and whatever girl is within the vicinity of her amazing smile. 

“And that concludes the tour unless you want me to take you to see the cockpit and get you a pair of wings to clip on your jacket,” the flight attendant, and again she reminded herself that her name was Kendra, offered with a bright smile as they lingered in the sleeping area of the LexCorp Gulfstream jet she'd potentially taken without full permission since it had been on such short notice.

“I wouldn’t want to interrupt them, but I’ll take two of those pilot wing pins if you have them,” she laughed even though the wings weren’t for her, but Ruby would love a pair and no doubt Danvers would too being as she was discovering a bit of a kid at heart.

“I feel like I should apologize though,” Kendra offered and nervously played with a silver bracelet that she wore. Allowing herself to enjoy the view she had to admit that the woman was stunning and soft-spoken, a testament to the LexCorp recruitment process, with a tantalizing dark complexion, chestnut brown hair, and soft brown eyes and a body to die for. Easy now Luthor. 

“Whatever for, I was being a rude and loud dare I say it stereotypical billionaire brat,” she confessed and Farmgirl had been right because being nice was much easier than being mean plus the confession made the woman laugh.

“I shouldn’t have been so forward with your girlfriend, I didn’t know, and the rider only said Lena Luthor and a friend,” the flight attendant apologized and she had to correct that right away. Danvers wasn’t her girlfriend, just a friend, and she intended to keep it that way for both their sakes.

“She’s not my girlfriend, you don’t have to worry,” she assured her even though it stung a little bit. Having someone like Danvers in her life like that would be beyond wonderful but even if she was remotely good enough for the blonde, her mother would set about ruining the girl’s dreams if she ever found out that they were more than just friends and even that level of closeness was risky.

“Oh, now I’m just embarrassed, I thought... well she takes such good care of you,” the woman said with a small nervous smile because she’d spoken with a bit too much force when denying her relationship status with her Farmgirl. Then she started doing something stupid again which was par for the course when she felt uncomfortable or like she was getting to close to someone.

“But you’ve also taken very good care of us on this flight, almost makes me wish I was flying solo on this trip,” she countered while lowering her voice a little bit with a smirk but truthfully desperate to change the topic away from how incredible Kara Danvers was and what a good and loving girlfriend she’d make.

“I… thank you, it’s been a pleasure to service… I mean take care of you Miss Luthor,” Kendra stammered, and she took another step closer to the green uniformed woman with her intent clear in her eyes. Don’t do it, Farmgirl’s sleeping in the front cabin, the voice of her guilty conscience reminded her in her head, but she ignored it, she was good at that.

Also it was too late, the alcohol from one too many drinks since take-off was coursing through her veins, the frustrations about Danvers and about herself once again being stupid and rebelling against her mother by taking the company jet for this trip in some misguided effort to prove her independence. It all amounted to her making yet another bad decision as she thought: Hey mom, I'm going to screw the help on your plane, that you didn't know I took, so there!

“Tell me, Kendra, are you intimidated by me?” she asked while taking another step toward the woman who was looking at her with vulnerable brown eyes. Reaching out she pulled the sliding door designed to give some privacy closed while maintaining eye contact with the poor flight attendant.

“No… I mean yes, you’re… quite intimidating,” the woman whispered when she struck one of her power poses with her arms crossed underneath her breasts to push them up slightly. Granted she wasn’t as tall or strong as Danvers, but she knew how to project power and confidence. 

“Do you like being intimidated?” she gently demanded and gave the flight attendant a smoldering look perfected through years of picking up girls in the dark corners of Metropolis’ clubs or convincing them to experiment in darkened boarding school hallways at night. Stop it, something in her mind shouted at her but she couldn’t.

“Maybe…” Kendra whispered but she was licking her lips and she could see those deep brown eyes looking down the neckline of her white Nasa t-shirt. Gotcha!

“We have a while before landing, correct?” she asked keeping her voice husky while uncrossing her arms and silently the flight attendant nodded.

“And I can count on your discretion?” she asked while reaching out deliberately slowly to pick up the woman’s hand and bringing it to her lips.

“Yes,” the flight attendant whimpered and while maintaining eye contact, she gently kissed the palm of the woman’s hand and gave her a piercing look. She really was quite beautiful and very kind and she almost stopped herself from going through with this. Almost.

“Good, you are stunning, radiant...” she murmured her praise and wrapped her lips around Kendra’s finger to gently suck on it which made the woman let out a low moan, not that she'd remember the name come tomorrow.

“I… never do this…” Kendra moaned and protested but she was used to hearing that too, it was actually quite funny how they all said that and a bit of a turn on too if she was being honest with herself for once.

“I’m not so sure,” she chuckled and pulled her lips slowly from the woman’s finger before stroking her trembling face. A part of her that was a Luthor loved this, having someone in the palm of her hand like this gave her such a rush, but another part of her hated that this was the only way she could allow herself to feel any kind of connection with another person.

Pushing the doubts and loathing out of her mind she set about kissing the flight attendant greedily as she pushed her against the cabin wall with a low thud. Forcing her tongue into the woman's mouth she plundered it with well-practiced ease until they were both breathless and then she pulled at the poor woman's swollen bottom lip with her teeth. Kendra whimpered and knew that she could do anything she wanted to the woman right then without protest.

"You know what I need?" she asked but she was already pushing the woman down to her knees before she got her shaky nod of confirmation.

Closing her eyes, she felt the flight attendant fumble with the zipper of her suit's pants before they were pulled down followed by her white panties. Sensible underwear since she'd not planned on hooking up when leaving the apartment this morning, but that had been before she’d seen Danvers texting with that way too pretty receptionist and before she’d seen the flight attendant currently down on her knees flirting with the blonde while ignoring her. Jealousy wasn’t a nice quality, but she knew she had it in spades.

"Perfect," she murmured and stroked the woman's pixie cut hair before pulling her head firmly between her pale legs. Wanting to both cum and to get this over with as quickly as possible. 

To her credit, Kendra, despite proclaiming to never doing this, was good, enthusiastic, and when she opened her eyes, she saw brown eyes looking up at her right as two fingers sank deep into her cunt. At least they both knew that this was a quickie. Grabbing the back of the woman's head she ground herself against the tongue and fingers inside of herself while squeezing her own breast roughly through the t-shirt she had on today.

Kendra’s fingers made lewd wet noises as they pumped in and out of her needy cunt and the skilled tongue felt wonderful on her clit with the woman's nose buried in the small strip of black hair she kept above her slit, but she needed a bit more and twisted her own nipple until it hurt a little bit making herself grunt and then moan quietly. Glancing down she could see that the flight attendant was rubbing herself through the skirt she had on and at least she was having fun despite having been seduced and intimidated into this.

"Harder…" she demanded quietly from her temporary lover and Kendra obeyed by redoubling her efforts to make her cum by greedily and dutifully sucking on her clit and curling the fingers up deep inside her pulsating cunt.

"Yes!" she hissed as she held onto a fistful of pixie cut hair and closed her eyes again and thrust her hips against the woman's mouth again and again until she orgasmed with another quiet moan. It wasn't the best she’d ever had, but it took the edge off at least. Damn it, why did she feel so fucking guilty about this?

Stroking the woman’s face, she felt the fingers leave her slowly once she came down from her orgasmic high and brown eyes were looking up at her awaiting orders. Reaching down she fondled the woman’s large and firm breasts through her white blouse making her moan at the rough attention. Pulling the blouse of the LexCorp Air uniform open she then yanked the black bra she found underneath down and toyed with the kneeling woman’s deep brown nipples making her both whine and moan. Look at me now mother, she thought disgustingly. 

"Stand up and turn around," she ordered Kendra and like a dutiful employee on shaky feet the flight attendant rose up from her knees with her breasts crassly exposed by the pulled open blouse and yanked down bra and turned around.

Unzipping the woman's skirt slowly to build tension she pushed it down her legs exposing cute black high cut panties. Then she bent her forward until her hands were on the cabin wall so that her breasts hung down and pulled the fabric of the panties to one side. Stroking the flight attendant's shapely ass wishing she had more time, she then rubbed her pussy from behind while leaning against her body. Pinching her clit between two fingers she rubbed it up and down gently at first but with more assertiveness as she quickly figured out what the woman needed.

"God!" Kendra whined because even though she wasn't prone to bragging she was very good at this. Genius level intelligence being put to use satisfying her illicit hookup, what a great use of your mind Luthor.

Though it wasn't just her brain that made her good at this. Years of one-night stands and club hookups meant that she knew what to do and how to do it fast. One, two, then finally three fingers plunged in and out of the flight attendant's silky smooth dark pussy, stretching her out and she pulled at her hair as pale fingers sank fully into the bent-over woman again and again with her breast swaying back and forth to the rhythm of her movements. Some people wanted to be made love to while others, as was the case with this LexCorp employee, wanted to be taken or that was the lie she told herself at least.

Finding the spot deep inside which she knew would make what's her name cum hard, she wasted no time bringing the woman to a whining orgasm with her skilled fingers before pulling her head up by the hair she had a fistful of in her hand while grinding her fingers between her legs from behind. She liked taking them from behind because this way she didn’t have to look them in the eyes.

"Is it good?" she asked in a sultry voice while she bent over the woman's back and kissed her hard while twisting her head around before she could reply. She didn't like it when they spoke, lied that she was great or that she was amazing, but she did love it when they moaned and nodded their heads.

With her breasts pressing against the flight attendant's back she pulled her upright with her tongue still in her sweet tasting mouth. Assertively she moved her hands around the front of her shapely body and played with her rounded and firm breasts while she stroked her now swollen and puffy pussy. Kendra's dark skin was glistening, her stomach was flat and toned and her nipples were visibly painfully hard she observed while feeling dispassionately disconnected from what she was doing now, and then, just because she could, she made the whimpering woman cum again and again. With her name on those swollen lips while she squeezed her firm breast roughly between her pale fingers while rubbing her now sensitive clit mercilessly in little circles. Even though she might not remember their names by morning's light she wanted them to remember hers. 

When she got back to her seat still fixing her suit and covering up her pointy nipples having left Kendra, whose name kept creeping back into her mind, to compose herself and fix her uniform, she found Farmgirl still out cold with her head on a pillow against the window and a slight smudge of chocolate on the corner of her mouth looking adorable.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to the tall blonde sleeping so peacefully next to her before feeling irrationally angry with herself as she pulled her jacket tightly over her breasts to hide the still visible signs of her shameful encounter.

Buckling her seat belt with a bit too much force, she tried to put what had happened out of her mind by picking up her tablet and using the onboard Wi-Fi she did a bit of casual hacking to check if Kendra Saunders had signed the usual Non-Disclosure Agreements and thankfully she had. Having to check that at all made her hate who she was even more. But why did she still feel guilty about what she had just done and the overwhelming need to apologize to Danvers? When, after all, Luthors didn’t admit to guilt or apologize unless there was profit in it. And it wasn't like the Farmgirl had also been flirting with the flight attendant and she'd simply gotten there first, and it wasn’t like they were anything more than friends. Right? Why then was she feeling so fucking guilty?

“Another drink,” she said as Kendra Saunders, and for some reason, she knew she wasn’t going to forget that name like with all the others because something in her had changed, walked past her looking like nothing had happened but then she added an uncustomary. “Please?” while smiling shyly at the woman. 

“Of course, Miss Luthor,” Kendra replied with a smile before heading to the front of the plane, and that only made her feel even guiltier about what she’d done. This woman seemed to be a genuinely good person and she’d seduced her like she was nothing more than a thing to be had.

“What time is it?” Danvers mumbled with her eyes still closed and then gave a long leisurely stretch accompanied by a yawn.

“We’re about twenty minutes out from Smallville,” she said after checking the flight path and when Danvers smiled at her she felt like a total piece of shit.

“You’ll love it, and thank you for doing this for me,” the blonde thanked her with that damn smile on her lips and she wanted to find a deep dark hole and hide in it.

“You’re welcome, what are friends for right?” she asked nervously as Kendra, the name now burned into her mind, brought her the requested drink. 

“Your drink Miss Luthor, and here are your wings,” the flight attendant said perkily while placing the two pilot wing pins on the table and she got that sinking and paranoid feeling that somehow Farmgirl knew what had happened. Also, she couldn't figure out why Kendra was still being polite to her after what she'd done. 

“Thank you,” she nodded to the flight attendant even managing a small smile and accepted the drink, but the look Danvers was giving her made her hand the drink back to Kendra. After all, she wasn't dumb, most of the time, no she was a genius and it didn't take a genius to see that the blonde didn't approve of her drinking.

“On second thought, I’ll just have some water before we land, please?” she asked and the proud look she got from the blonde next to her should have made her feel good about herself, but it didn’t.

“Of course, Miss Luthor and for you Danvers?” Kendra asked and the way the flight attendant looked at the Farmgirl, it hurt, she hadn’t looked at her like that when they’d been fucking in the back of the plane. None of that admiration or appreciation for her it would seem. No, she got fearful respect and shaking nods.

“Nothing for me thank you, let me know if you want me to get my bag down when we land,” Danvers cheerfully replied and the two of them shared a smile which felt like a dagger in her guts.

“What did I miss? Did you have a nice time with Kendra?” the blonde asked her curiously once the flight attendant was out of earshot again and she hoped that the panic didn’t show in her face.

“Yes, she’s a very talented woman, gave me a great tour of the plane while you were no doubt dreaming of Miss Teschmacher,” she smoothly lied and couldn’t resist teasing the blonde a little bit just to distract herself from what she’d just done.

“Good, I knew you could do it Lee, see nothing bad happened,” Danvers tried to reassure her while not taking the bait but something bad had indeed happened. 

“No nothing bad,” she lied again, she was good at that, and picked up one of the golden pilot wings pins that Kendra had brought for her and handed it to the blonde. “But I got you a pilot wings pin,” she offered lamely and the bright smile from Danvers somehow made her feel both amazing and shitty at the same time.

“Thank you, these are so cool!” the Farmgirl declared while pinning it to the breast of her t-shirt and she tried to return the girl’s bright smile the best she could. 

But she couldn’t escape that sinking feeling that like always she’d fucked up a good thing by being a god damn Luthor and she spent the remainder of the flight trying to forget what she’d done and instead focused on trying to have a good time with her friend. This was going to be a long trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're in Smallville after quite the flight! Danvers is happy and clueless while Lena is a small ball of self-loathing and worries and what could possibly go wrong? 
> 
> Next up and hopefully I won't derail myself again, Farmgirl and Lena explore, well, the farm while Lena explores what a freaking mess she is as Danvers decides she needs to train harder after her attack at the hands of Intergang. 
> 
> Angst!
> 
> Comfort! 
> 
> Voyeurism?
> 
> All on the next episode of The Internship!


	11. City Girl on the (not so) Little Farm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danvers and Lena arrive in Smallville after a bumpy flight in the previous chapter. As Lena feels out of her element on the Kent Farm, Kara Danvers is just happy to be home and is dying to show her friend around. But the warm Kansas sun seems to be having an effect on both girls as they both struggle with who they want to be but maybe with each others' help they can get one step closer to figuring that out.

Out of her element, that’s the best way Lena could describe how she’d felt from the moment they touched down on the small airstrip that serviced the town of Smallville and the neighboring farms which she’d seen out the window of the plane as they approached. It had all been quite breathtaking, amber fields of grain as far as the eye could see, dotted with small towns and idyllic farms, it was far cry from the gleaming towers of Metropolis but it had reminded her of a simpler time back when she’d been a world away in Africa. With Emma, no she thought, she couldn’t allow herself to think about that right now.

Kara Danvers had tactfully spent a good portion of their flight napping, which was good because the blonde hero needed rest to fully heal from her wounds, though she’d also done it to give her time to chat with their lovely flight attendant. It had started out as harmless flirting of course, but making the stunning woman laugh had felt good, great even, though Kendra Saunders, damn it there was her name again, hadn’t been the person on the plane she wanted to make laugh the most. 

If only she’d stopped at making the kind and courteous flight attendant laugh, but oh no her ego and issues had kicked in, and she'd had seduced the unsuspecting woman before fucking her senseless within feet of her peacefully sleeping best friend. All that self-inflicted drama made stepping off the plane feel like a walk of shame.

But if there was one thing she was very good at, it was denial, reasoning with herself that the plane ride was now in her past, and instead, she focused on the fact that ahead lay four days with Kara Danvers. The girl was already smiling and jumping around like the world's tallest five-year-old as she waved at a friendly-looking grey-haired man wearing jeans and a flannel shirt standing by a beat-up pick-up truck waving back at them. 

Keeping her Farmgirl from straining herself was proving to be difficult, however, what with her energetic attitude. Several times she’d been forced to step in when Danvers had tried to carry all of their luggage, though it was admittedly mostly hers, in one go into the back of the pick-up truck that the friendly older man referred to only as Pa Kent by the blonde had shown up in.

“Miss,” the grey-haired man with a gentle smile nodded while touching his fingers to his red cap as he held the passenger door open for her and she could see right away where Kara Danvers got her politeness and manners from.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile but struggled to climb into the high orf the ground pickup. Being short wasn’t all it was cracked up to be at times, but then she felt Danvers’ strong hands on her waist boosting her into the truck with ease.

“Sit by the window you’ll love the views,” the blonde promised her with that damn smile of hers and she reminded herself that Luthors’ didn’t blush as she tried to ignore how nice being treated like this felt, manners did indeed maketh the man, or in this case the Farmgirl.

The truck only had a front seat, which meant that they were all piled into the front after Pa Kent strapped their luggage onto the bed of the truck for the drive to the much-discussed Kent Farm. Leaning against the window both to keep as much distance from her Farmgirl as she could and to enjoy the views, she had to admit that she found it all quite idyllic while the blonde kept up a running commentary as they drove,

“That’s Olsen’s Diner, we’ll go there for dinner one night you’ll love their waffles and fried chicken, I promise,” the blonde who seemed to light up like a Christmas tree at being back in Smallville told her and pointed out a 50’s style diner as they drove through the center of town. 

Smiling at the girl she only nodded contently since listening to her friend excitedly explain the sights was like music to her ears and it allowed the memories of their flight to fade into the back of her mind. The streets of Smallville gave way to a wide-open road that stretched out towards the horizon. Cornfields lined both sides of the road that was like a straight black line through a golden ocean of grain and above them was the biggest and bluest sky she’d ever seen in her life. No buildings, no people, just the road, the fields, and the big blue sky with no sign of her mother’s agents and no condescending men in suits. 

“Cool, right?” the blonde asked cheerfully from next to her and leaned in closer to look out the window. It forced her to repeat her new mantra to herself, well technically she’d just come up with it, but it went something like this: The blonde was her best friend that she wasn’t going to hurt or drive away like she always did when people got close to seeing the real Lena Luthor. 

“Yeah, it is… you could get lost out here,” she murmured and turned away from the endless horizon to see the smile on Kara’s beaming face.

“Yes! I knew you’d like it,” her friend declared happily and there was that bright smile that could shame the sun above their heads in terms of warmth and brightness. 

They turned off the main road and drove down a dirt track that led to the Kent Farm. It was larger than she had expected. The main building was a blue-painted house on two stories, with a white picket fence around it and flowers growing in the garden. Not far off in the distance were the grain silos, next to the house was a blue-painted barn next to an older one that was a faded red color in the process of being painted a matching blue.

“Home sweet home!” the now visibly excited blonde declared, if it was even possible for her to get more excited, and started waving at someone she couldn’t see yet in the distance, but it proved that her Farmgirl’s eyesight was clearly far beyond human levels.

The pickup truck pulled up outside the white picket fence and again Danvers helped her out of the truck, this time simply putting her hands on her waist and lifting her boldly down from the passenger side of the truck. Something about being here had brought upon a change in her friend, her smile was brighter, the bright sun made her blonde hair glow like gold and there was a skip to her step as she rushed to hug a grey-haired woman wearing a white apron over a pair of jeans and a red flannel shirt. All very rustic and idyllic, but she found it oddly charming.

“Ma! Ma!” Danvers called out and ran the few steps to the gate in the fence, picked up the woman and spun her around before she could call out that she wasn’t supposed to strain herself.

“Kara! I swear you’ve gotten stronger, but put me down girl!” the woman her friend had called Ma laughed and reluctantly her friend put the woman down while she stood by the truck not knowing what to do with herself while fiddling with the rings on her fingers.

Watching her friend lead the woman over she got very nervous all of a sudden and started trying to make herself more presentable by fixing her t-shirt and smoothing down her slightly crumbled blue suit. You’re a Luthor you can do this, you’ve met parents before, no that’s a lie you don't get taken home to meet mom, but you can do this, she repeated to herself. 

“Ma, this is Lena, Lena this is my Ma,” the blonde introduced the kind-looking woman and sticking out her hand she tried to be as polite as humanly possible.

“A pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” she said trying to sound like a Luthor, but her voice came out a bit squeaky and the grey-haired woman gave her hand a curious look before taking it. For some reason being this much out of her element made her feel like an awkward teenager.

“Call me Martha or Ma, dear, everyone does. So you’re the girl with the fancy jet everyone in town is talking about,” the grey-haired woman said with a kind smile and for some reason, she felt like blushing as her usual response of being defensive didn’t kick in around these people.

“Ma…” Danvers tried to defend her, but she could handle this herself. Even though she wasn’t the girl most people took home to mother she was used to dealing politely with people thanks to the many functions her mother had dragged her to like she was some kind of prop. 

“Danvers, I mean Kara, wanted to come back home for a few days and it was the quickest way to get her here,” she explained off-handedly though she was not sure if she should be using her friend’s new choice of name around what were definitely grand-parental figures.

Martha Kent looked at her for a few moments and she didn’t know quite how to react to the woman’s measured but kind look, once again feeling very much out of her element. For a fleeting and painful moment, it felt like when her own mother would look at her whenever she tried to dress in something the bitch deemed inappropriate, but there was a sweetness to Martha Kent’s gaze. Also, it was, dare she think it, like she was being examined to see if she was worthy of Kara Danvers. Which she wasn’t by a long shot and she knew it.

“Well you caused quite the ruckus in town, my phone has been ringing off the hook asking who that sharp-dressed woman who flew in with Kara is,” Ma Kent laughed with a kind smile and she could see that Danvers was grinning too.

“I…” she started wanting to beg the woman to not tell anyone who she was since even here in Smallville, Kansas she was sure her mother had ears.

“Don’t worry dear, I’m very good at keeping secrets,” the woman assured her and gave her an exaggerated wink.

Feeling a bit silly because, of course, these people who helped raise Kara Danvers knew she was an alien, how could they not, and feeling that trust being extended to her made her regret what she’d done even more. So, for the first time in years she fumbled for the right words to say, but in the end, settled on being nice as Danvers called it.

“Thank you, I appreciate the gesture,” she nodded, and then Kara grabbed her by the hand before dragging her into the blue two-story house.

“Come on, let me show you my room!” the blonde declared as she glanced back to her luggage on the bed of the pickup.

“But our luggage…” she protested but it was hard to free your hand from a grip of steel especially when the owner of said grip was excited like a puppy.

“Don’t worry it doesn't’ smell like it’s going to rain, and I’ll bring it up later, come on!” Danvers insisted and with Ma Kent smiling at her with a look that told her that fighting against Kara Danvers right now was pointless, she allowed herself to be led into the house that smelled of apple-pie and cinnamon.

The room was not quite like she’d pictured it all those times her Farmgirl had described it to her during their lunches. By the window was a well-used looking telescope pointed at a specific point in the sky she noticed while the walls were covered in posters of rockets and planes and one that looked to be out of a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue sporting a fit-looking woman in a bikini she might have met once at a function. A neatly organized desk was covered in small gadgets, magnets, a Newton’s cradle, and what looked like black goo in a jar. Picking up the jar she studied the contents which made Danvers laugh a little at how puzzled she no doubt looked.

“That’s my ferrofluid, I was trying to recreate a type of liquid smart metal we had back on… never mind long story short I couldn’t get it to work,” the blonde explained and she noticed the brief pause.

“It’s alright, you can say it,” she said and picked up a magnet to play with the black fluid in the jar watching it form spikes and cones. 

“Well, you see, back on Krypton we had this liquid smart metal that I thought I could recreate, but well, I was fourteen and Earth isn’t quite there yet in terms of the materials I needed,” Danvers explained and sat down on the bed while watching her with a slightly embarrassed but also a slightly sad expression on her face.

“That’s still incredibly impressive, so where am I sleeping?” she asked in an effort to casually change the subject because this wasn’t supposed to be a sad trip but a fun one.

“In here,” the blonde declared while sounding wonderfully innocent about it even as she almost choked on her own tongue.

“In-in… here, with you?” she asked and how she hated it when she stuttered but Danvers was smiling at her with those bright sapphire blue eyes.

“I’ll sleep on the floor and don’t worry I won’t take any liberties,” the blonde joked while fresh memories from their flight here threatened to bubble to the surface. Why was she having such a hard time forgetting about it? Usually, she couldn’t remember their names an hour later but here she was unable to move forward like she usually did.

“Oh no, you don’t! I’m on the floor because you’re here to heal up, remember?” She insisted even though it was clear as day that the blonde was mostly healed up already and this trip was now an excuse to be away from work for a few days.

“Yes, Miss Luthor,” Danvers mumbled before bursting out laughing at her stunned reaction to hearing that roll off the blonde’s tongue for the first time ever outside the confines of the LexCorp building and their work relationship.

“Your face, oh boy! Come on, since you’re so very sweetly concerned about my well-being, you can help me carry your bag collection inside!” the blonde declared before she could come up with a clever reply and jumped off the bed.

“Hey, that bag collection is a limited-edition Louis Vuitton and…” she started protesting to her favorite bags being called something so common, but the blonde was just laughing.

“Don’t care! Race you and the last one there is a rotten egg!” her Farmgirl declared and took off before she could launch into an explanation of why her luggage was both stylish and functional. 

“Hey, wait for me,” she shouted out after the blonde who was already halfway down the stairs. Shrugging she allowed herself to be silly and gave chase while noting that being back on the farm definitely gave Danvers more energy that was for sure and made her more hyper too.

After some wrangling to get her bags up the narrow stairs and with their luggage stacked in one corner of Kara Danvers’ old room, she was given the grand tour of the farm by both her energetic blonde friend and Pa Kent or simply Jonathan as he offered her to call him. Farmgirl seemed to glow underneath the warm summer sun and the bright blue skies looking somehow taller and more alert than she’d ever seen the girl look before. At first, the Kent Farm appeared to be like any other farm, and she nodded politely as the pair gave her the tour of the fields and the small kitchen gardens, but she was in for a rude awakening. Though it looked simple and rustic, the blue barn hid a high-tech operation she found out when using her strong arms Danvers pushed the large barn doors open and the cool air rushing out hit her face.

“Pa, give her the tour I want to check on the irrigation systems,” the blonde asked the kindly older gentleman and left her in the care of Jonathan Kent. 

“Not what you expected, eh city-slicker?” Pa Kent asked from behind her as she wordlessly watched the blonde walk around the spotlessly clean barn with well-practiced familiarity. Had Danvers built all this? 

One wall was lined completely with monitors, though not the most high-tech ones and with some looking scavenged, but they were serviceable. Running her eyes over the read-outs she could see that they were displaying soil temperature and moisture levels while a few of the monitors kept track of the animals using motion sensors and some kind of modified face recognition technology. Danvers was tapping away at the workstation, muttering something about Ph-level imbalances and how she could compensate for those.

“This is… impressive,” she declared walking around the barn, where various pieces of farm equipment were also being stored for when they would be needed and some of them were in various states of disassembly. Again she guessed this was Danvers’ handiwork, as she spotted a workbench strewn with electronics and parts. 

“That’s our Kara for you, give her a box of junk and she’ll build you a coffee machine,” Jonathan declared with a fond smile as he stopped by a partly dismantled tractor.

“She built all that?” she asked and glanced back at the make-shift workstation that the blonde was hunched over. What a truly incredible mind lived inside of her blonde friend’s head, she thought, and it wasn’t like she needed more reasons to admire Kara Danvers.

“Sure did, you see, Clark, our eldest, was good with the animals but he grew up on the farm doing things the way we’d always done them. Kara, she came to us when she was already a young woman, and well, she’s got a scientific mind that one,” the man explained and checked on one of the sparkplugs he’d pulled out of the tractor’s engine.

“Engine troubles?” she asked and started pulling off her blue jacket not having changed yet since their flight, though she would have liked to be out of these clothes sooner rather than later. They smelled like that flight attendant Kendra and booze, neither which she wanted to smell like right now. 

“Yeah, the damn thing won’t start since the spring frosts did something to it,” the man declared, and right away she looked around for a wrench. This was also a good opportunity to impress the Kents her more cynical side decided but she really needed a distraction right now from the fact that Danvers was not only brawn but also a healthy amount of brains.

“Want me to take a look at it for you?” she offered while already preparing her arguments. Because usually when she offered a man her help, she had to convince him first to take it, but Jonathan Kent didn’t seem to have those scruples about strong and competent women.

“Knock yourself out, city-slicker,” he laughed and handed her a wrench without question to which she could do nothing but smile in return. These people were too nice and a part of her didn’t like it, but she tried her hardest to shut that part of herself off.

Pulling her hair into a tight ponytail she set about troubleshooting the problem with the tractor’s engine. The cold could have frozen the fluid in the radiator, though that didn’t seem likely, or maybe it was old and the engine block was cracked which would mean a welding job was needed or water could have gotten into the carburetor which a blast from an air-press would solve. 

“Rats!” she declared after several minutes of investigative work and one oil smudge on her cheek later with her body half underneath the hood of the tractor and her feet off the floor. Oh, how her mother would be mortified, of course, but she didn’t care because she loved solving problems like this.

“Excuse me?” Jonathan asked sounding surprised at her language, but she laughed and poked her finger at the problem with the engine. Something small and furry had gotten under the hood while no doubt trying to stay warm and chewed through part of the electronics.

“Or a squirrel, take your pick, chewed through the ignition cable enough so the current isn’t flowing, get me a soldering iron and I can fix that right up… for... you,” she stammered when she pulled herself out of the engine bay of the tractor only to come face to face with one grinning Farmgirl and a chuckling Jonathan Kent.

“Having fun, are we?” Danvers asked with her powerful nearly bulging arms crossed over her chest and a smug look on her face. The Farm and the sun were doing something to the tall blonde alright and to her as well.

“What can I say, I love working with my hands,” she managed to reply without stumbling over her words not used to people seeing her be this excited about anything.

“Well, you came to the right place then,” the blonde declared brightly and gave her a friendly slap on the shoulder, which both felt nice but also somehow lacking. 

“What do you say, Pa, I saw the old oak tree behind the house had fallen, want us to take care of that for you?” her Farmgirl then asked her Pa and even though she wasn’t averse to manual labor, she wasn’t sure she’d be much help with said fallen tree.

“Relax, Kara, you’ve only been here an hour, and that tree isn’t going anywhere,” the man thankfully saved her from making up an excuse along the lines of that she had not brought any clothes for that kind of work. 

“Sorry, but you know I get excited,” Danvers laughed and there was sweetness simply oozing off the girl today that she hadn't been prepared to deal with.

“The tree can wait a little bit, why don’t you show your friend the animals first, I think some of them might even miss you,” Jonathan offered while handing her back her jacket and that made her Farmgirl smile from ear to ear and made her a little bit worried. Technology and machines, she was good with, living things not as much.

“Come on, you’ll love this, I promise!” the blonde declared and grabbed her hand without hesitation. 

After begging to fix the tractor's engine first which was done under the watchful blue eyes of Kara and Jonathan, she was again being dragged to a new part of the farm by what was for all intended purposes a very tall and excitable golden retriever in human form. Yet, there was something infectious about Danvers’ enthusiasm that she tried to allow herself to be swept up in if only for a few days.

* * *

Being back on the farm was the best and she’d not realized how much she’d missed it, Danvers thought as she dragged Lena from one thing to another. Showing her the barn that housed the nerve-center of their irrigation system that she’d designed and built, using parts that she had scrounged-up at the Smallville dump or bought cheaply at the Goodwill store, and then she’d dragged the pale girl, who needed sunscreen soon, over to the pens holding the various animals they kept. Despite them being mostly a corn-growing operation, they also kept cows, a few goats, and some pigs. Along with an assortment of barn cats and their kittens and a dog to keep Pa company in the truck. Right now, however, it was the pigs she wanted to show to the pale girl.

“Slow down, please, I swear your energy levels could power a small city and some of us need a shower,” Lena begged her with a laugh as she dragged the still blue-suited girl with her jacket now tied around her waist and a smudge of engine oil on her cheek across the farm with her pale hand firmly in hers. 

“We’re almost done,” she laughed and opened the gate that led to the animal enclosure behind the old barn she was saving for last.

“If you… oh, what’s that! Danvers! Something just brushed against my leg!” Lena started protesting before the green-eyed girl gave an undignified but adorable squeal and closed her eyes before hearing a series of high-pitched oinks.

“It’s alright, they won’t hurt you,” she assured her friend who slowly opened her brilliant green eyes to see the three piglets circling around their feet. All three were adorable and she’d not seen them since they were born. 

“They are… aww…” Lena asked and then sighed looking down at the three piglets, one of them with black spots on his fuzzy body oinking happily and sniffing at their sneakers.

“They were born just before I left, and look how big they’ve gotten,” she explained and bent down to pick one of the squirming piglets up to give her friend a better look.

“They’re just… aww… hello there little one,” the green-eyed girl cooed, holding out her hand as if asking permission to pet the adorable little piglet with one black circle over its eye. This was a very nice side to Lena Luthor, she decided and one she would try to bring out more.

“Go on, you can pet him,” she encouraged her friend who had a look to her green eyes she’d never seen before.

“You got a name, little one?” the pale-girl asked, and her voice was so soft and gentle, nothing like the commanding tone she used at LexCorp or that sultry voice she’d used on the poor flight attendant. Jealous much, Zor-El?

“You can give him a name if you like,” she offered and gently pushed the squirming piglet into the pale girl’s arms.

“He’s a wiggler, oh I know! Sir Wigglesworth, that’s a good name, right?” the green-eyed girl asked while still sounding a bit unsure of herself as she cuddled the now happily oinking piglet to her bosom. It was almost as if the headstrong young woman had been transformed into a little girl before her eyes.

“That works,” she laughed and watched as Lena petted the small piglet lovingly. Was this what was hiding behind all that bravado and sarcasm she wondered, this soft and gentle girl?

“Can I keep him?” Lena asked and gave her what amounted to a pout though she was pretty sure Lena Luthor didn’t pout on the regular.

“I don’t think he’d fit in your loft apartment because they grow up to be really big,” she gently laughed and watched as the pale girl rubbed her nose against Sir Wigglesworth’s snout while she got out her phone and snapped a quick picture. 

“How big? I can always buy the floor below me,” the green-eyed girl declared and then cuddled the piglet tightly to herself again.

“How about... we come and visit him again someday soon, that way you can see how big he gets?” she offered as she found that she couldn’t take her eyes of Lena and how gentle the woman was being right then.

“Promise? And I’m sorry I don’t know what’s come over me, must be all this fresh air or maybe it’s my allergies acting up,” Lena awkwardly giggled with her green eyes glistening and then apologized with an actual, in Rao’s name she couldn’t believe it, blush creeping into her pale cheeks.

“I guess we both needed some time in the sun,” she offered and reached out to pet Sir Wigglesworth on the head. They stood there for a few moments just looking at each other until the piglet gave a loud oink declaring that he’d like to be put down thank you very much because this whole situation was awkward.

“Oh, you want to go down. Okay, here you go. See you soon, okay?” the green-eyed girl laughed and gently put the piglet down who ran back to his siblings inside the pen.

“Want to go shower and change, because you’ve been pulling at your suit all day and I really want to take care of that fallen tree behind the house before Pa throws out his back trying to do it,” she offered though Lena was still distracted watching the piglets play around in the mud.

“I… sure, though I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, we’re not all professional gym rats like you, Farmgirl,” the green-eyed girl commented and made a muscle with her pale arm.

“I’m sure Ma could use some help in the kitchen, or you could just hang out on the porch, but I don’t think you should be out in the sun too much with your complexion, you’re kinda pale,” she offered with a smile, and she could see how the idea of cooking scared the living bejesus out of Lena Luthor.

“I’ll help in the kitchen, though if I burn the house down I will blame you,” Lena laughed and she was struck that how here and away from Metropolis the pale girl appeared to be more at ease and not as measured in her responses.

“Perfect, Ma Kent won’t bite, don't worry, now say goodbye to the piglets for now,” she laughed and then watched the pale girl do something she’d never expected.

“Bye, Sir Wigglesworth, bye piglets,” the green-eyed girl declared and waved at the piglets with a bright smile on her face and damn it this girl deserved to be this happy all the time.

Taking turns to change in her old room that they were sharing, with her going first, she slipped into her seemingly always dirty work jeans she’d left behind and laced up her heavy brown boots, before pulling on a Midvale High tank top that had seen better days, but she wouldn’t cry over it being ruined. Looking at herself in the mirror she tried to do something with her hair aside from the ponytail she had it in but as usual, came up empty. That she was taking too long debating it became obvious when a knock on the door signaled that Lena was waiting for her turn.

“You alright in there, Farmgirl?” her friend asked through the door and she decided that maybe she should tell the truth. Telling the truth won out.

“Come in, just struggling with my hair,” she explained, and the pale girl with her cute nose having turned a bit red from the sun poked her head in through the door.

“If you need help, I know a guy who owes me a favor,” Lena offered while she walked up to her side in front of the mirror. Again, she was struck how slender and petite the pale girl looked compared to herself when standing next to her like this.

“Not that kind of problem,” she replied and tried to gather her unruly mane that seemed to have a mind of its own today into something more manageable without much success.

“Ever… thought about cutting it all off?” the green-eyed girl asked, and she froze, how had she known?

“Every night,” she admitted and gave a shy smile while looking into the mirror while pretending to cut it off at the base before letting it drop back down around her shoulders but it ended up looking like a haystack on the top of her head.

“What’s stopping you?” Lena asked in a gentle voice and reached up to touch her hair but waited for her permission.

“Lots of stuff, worried what people will say, how they’ll react, I’ve not really cut it since coming to Earth,” she admitted and it was all coming out easily for once as she gave a small nod that yes the pale girl could touch her hair.

“If it helps, I think that Eve Teschmacher would still like you,” the green-eyed girl teased her with a twinkle in her eye while gently touching her hair which made her sigh at first because it felt good but then out of frustration. 

“I’m being a huge chicken about it, I know that… but when I was fighting those Intergang members the other night they pulled my hair, even ripped some of it out, did I ever tell you about that?” she asked and Lena shook her head now looking deadly serious after hearing that revelation.

“And they tried to grab my… breasts too, at least a few times to make sure I wasn’t a guy,” she went on and grabbed her chest with both hands. In the mirror, she could see a flash of anger in Lena’s green eyes before it was replaced with something else, worry, sympathy, kindness? 

“You don’t like them?” Lena asked softly while putting a pale hand on her shoulder, but she shook her head as she kept opening up to the pale girl more and more. 

“No, I like them, sure they’re not big like Kendra’s or even Eve’s but they’re a part of me,” she explained and let go of her breasts allowing her bulky arms to hang limply at her sides. The mention of Kendra made Lena tense up for a second, probably because of the flirting, but then it was gone, and the girl had impressive control of her emotions it would seem. 

“Maybe I can help… with the hair I mean,” the green-eyed girl offered and that made her look down at the pale girl by her side

“How?” she asked and glanced at herself in the mirror again. It felt good to tell somebody else that she liked how she looked. It made it feel more real. Even though she didn’t have many curves to speak of, she was fond of her breasts, it had felt good when Eve had touched them and darn it, she was proud of who she was and how she looked.

“You got hair clippers somewhere around here or maybe just scissors? A few times when I was doing humanitarian work for LexCorp, well the nearest hair salon could be a thousand miles away and I had to get creative,” the pale girl explained and she felt her eyes going wide.

“I… you’d do that for me?” she asked and ran her hand nervously through her unruly mane of blonde hair. Could she go through with it, cut it off? It would be another step towards being who she truly wanted to be.

“Of course, we’re in this together now and we can’t have them yanking at your hair every night like some kind of overgrown playground bullies,” Lena assured her and without further argument, she walked over to her dresser feeling the nerves wracking her body.

Pulling the bottom drawer open, she pulled out a set of hair clippers still in the box from underneath a pile of old shirts that she’d bought two years ago but had always been too afraid to use by herself. Wordlessly handing them to Lena, she waited to be instructed in what to do next and after a moment’s pause, the green-eyed genius sprang into action.

Dragging the chair from her desk in front of the mirror, Lena pointed for her to sit down before grabbing a sheet from the bed and wrapping it around her neck completing their makeshift barbershop.

“Now, I don’t sing barbershop tunes, but maybe you could tell me what you want?” the green-eyed girl asked and ran those pale fingers through her hair to work out any knots she could find there as gently as possible.

“Short,” she replied and closed her eyes, not thinking she had the courage to go through with this, but she put her trust in her friend.

“That’s all you want? Because I can cut it short but are you sure about this, Farmgirl?” Lena asked her while massaging her scalp which felt divine and she looked at herself in the mirror with her friend standing behind her, and then she nodded.

“I’m sure… I think I’m sure, hold on let me do something first, just don't freak out ok?” she stammered and after taking a deep breath and getting a nod from Lena she recited her prayer to Rao again with her eyes closed.

“In Rao’s light I find peace, in Rao’s light I’m made whole, his flame guides me and strengthens me and in his light I find peace,” she spoke softly and for the first time in almost seven years, she spoke the language of Krypton in front of another person.

“That was…” Lena declared in a breathy voice and opening her eyes again she looked up at the green-eyed girl with a smile at how stunned she looked.

“Kryptonian, yes. I’ll give you a few lessons someday if you like,” she offered and held up her hand which Lena squeezed giving her much needed extra courage and comfort.

“I was going to say that was beautiful, now are you ready?” the green-eyed girl asked her, and when she nodded the clippers turned on with a loud buzz.

Lock by lock, Lena carefully sheared off her hair and every so often, one time she opened her eyes to check on the progress but then she’d close them again afraid of what she would see. Carefully, the pale girl with her gentle hands would hum to calm her down every time she tensed up and she felt the clippers cutting away who she had been for the past seven years.

“Did I ever tell you about my time in Africa?” Lena asked in a low voice and she shook her head as she was now too afraid to open her eyes until this was all over.

“It was the best time of my life, I was doing good work and I met a girl… her name was Emma…” the pale girl went on with her now gentle voice halting as more of her own blonde hair hit the floor.

“Was… was she pretty?” she asked not sure of what she was supposed to say in response to her friend’s confession.

“No, she was gorgeous, brave, strong… she was my bodyguard you see,” Lena replied, and she could hear the smile in her friend’s voice.

“You were... close?” she asked in a low unsure voice and she felt the clippers stop for a second before Lena resumed the cutting.

“I… I was going to ask her to marry me before it all went to hell,” the green-eyed girl confessed and she felt the clippers against the back of her neck making her lean forward but for the first time she could remember no hair fell into her face

“Oh Lee, you don’t have to...” she gasped, and she wanted to look up if only to somehow show her friend any kind of sympathy since she could hear the hurt in the pale girl’s voice now.

“It’s in the past, I’m over it, but I’m telling you this because… because in the end, my mother put a stop to it… like she could put a stop to us,” Lena explained and she could hear the girl’s voice harden.

“I’m not afraid of your mother!” she declared right away and felt the hair on the side of her head being trimmed down more and more.

“I don’t think you’re afraid of anything or anyone, Farmgirl, but you understand what I’m trying to tell you, right?” the green-eyed girl asked and even though she didn’t quite get it she nodded her head not wanting to push the pale girl any further out of her comfort zone. But Lilian Luthor, one day you and I are going to have a talk, she decided to herself though.

“Good, now let’s finish this so you can go back to making panties drop at LexCorp when we get back home,” Lena laughed and she found herself grinning at how Eve would react to seeing her like this once she got back to Metropolis, though right now she was content right here on the Kent Farm with Lena. 

“You know, Eve… Eve and I aren’t dating, right?” she asked and again there was that slight pause in Lena’s movements.

“Could have fooled me, Farmgirl, with the way she looks at you,” the green-eyed girl countered and resumed her work.

“I wanted to, but she wants to keep things simple and… I think it’s for the best,” she admitted and felt the last few strands of cut off hair tickling her neck before Lena blew them away and the cool air hitting her skin gave her goosebumps.

“One less person to worry about you?” Lena asked and how did the weird and wonderful girl understand her like that? 

“Something like that, do… do you worry about me?” she asked and tried her hardest not to stutter. 

“Of course I do… and we’re done!” the green-eyed declared not so subtly changing the subject and she couldn’t believe that was all over as the clippers turned off. But she was afraid to open her eyes again.

“It’s not perfect, but… I think it suits you, go on open your eyes,” Lena’s voice spoke in her ear while soft fingers dusted away stray hairs from her neck and shoulders and she slowly cracked one eye open and then the other one as the shock set in.

Running a trembling hand through her now short hair, with the sides shaved down to almost her scalp she gasped at the feeling. It was like all that hair had been weighing her down for years because now she felt light and free. Lena had left enough hair on the top of her head for her to be able to run her fingers through it or for her to slick it back, but not much more than that. It was still wavy and very thick though and for the first time, as she rubbed the back of her shaved neck which felt funny, she felt like she was truly herself and that Zor-El was looking back at her from the mirror.

“Say something… please, making me nervous here, Farmgirl,” the green-eyed girl begged with her voice shaking a tiny bit though her friend was also almost giggling at how shocked she looked.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and she could see in the mirror that she was crying for some reason to which the look on Lena’s face turned from nervousness to worry.

“Look, if you hate it I know a great guy, he’ll fix it right up and hmpf!” she cut off her friend’s rambling apology as she got up with a whoosh faster than the eye could see and gave her a bone-crushing hug before the sheet that had been wrapped around her hit the floor.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she laughed and spun them both around the room until Lena’s fists banging against her back alerted her to the fact she might have been being a little bit too rough.

“So, I take it… you like it…” Lena asked gasping for air once she put the petite girl down on the floor and she happily nodded her head.

“You’re the best friend anyone could wish for!” she declared and again Lena’s face did that thing where it displayed like four different emotions at once before settling on shocked surprise.

“You… you’re a good friend too, Farmgirl,” Lena muttered and there was something about the girl’s eyes that gave her cause to worry.

“Lee… are you okay?” she asked and put her hands on the girl’s slender shoulders to try to convey that here on the Kent Farm it was just the two of them, that Lena was safe from her mother here and they could tell each other anything.

“It’s been a busy day that’s all and I might still be a bit hungover,” the green-eyed girl replied while she debated X-raying her friend to make sure that she was alright.

“Oh, well, why don’t you take a shower and change into something more comfortable, while I go see if Ma has something in the pantry to perk you up?” she offered and that earned her a small but grateful smile from the pale girl.

“That… that sounds good, but don’t start on that fallen tree until I can keep an eye on you, I need to make sure you don’t strain yourself,” Lena said with a laugh and touched the bandage that now covered the healed-up wound on her arm.

“Aww alright, but you can see it from the bathroom window,” she argued and tried to pout a little bit because she was dying to get to work and there was something about being back on the farm. It was a feeling she couldn’t describe in English at least.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to run out there the moment my back is turned?” the green-eyed girl laughed in defeat and she gave a little jump at having won this round with her protective friend.

“I’ll be careful, and I’ll let Ma know you’re coming to help her, okay?” she asked and smiled down at the pale girl who was shaking her head with a rueful smile on her red lips.

“Fine, but if I say stop, you stop, understood?” Lena asked with her eyebrow rising up to high heavens and pale hands placed firmly on her hips in the most powery of power poses.

“Yes, Miss Luthor, now the bathroom is across the hall, don’t worry about the hot water I put in an underground thermal exchange system that means we have plenty of it,” she blurted out and that earned her an impressed look from the pale girl.

“Unlimited hot water too, is there anything you can’t do, Farmgirl?” the green-eyed girl asked her teasingly while sounding impressed too and she could only shrug in response. With Lena telling her to get to work already she rushed downstairs, called out to Ma that her friend was coming down soon to help out in the kitchen, and grabbing an axe from the shed she set about chopping the fallen oak tree in the backyard up into firewood. Being home had never felt this good before!

* * *

While Kara Danvers parked, Lena Luthor was pacing around the small bathroom on the Kent Farm and she was going out of her mind. Why had she told her Farmgirl about Emma and Africa, why had she opened up like that and why had she agreed to cut the girl’s hair like that? The intimacy of that act was something they didn’t need between them and then the hug, fuck that girl was strong. 

“Relax, relax, she doesn’t know,” she reminded herself and looked out the window that overlooked the backyard of the farmhouse.

A massive oak tree had come down in the back garden during a recent storm according to Jonathan Kent and Danvers had been itching to get to work chopping it up and hauling it away since the moment they’d gotten here. The blonde’s work ethic was something that would no doubt impress her father once she introduced them and stop it! There will be no introductions to family, you have got to keep her safe from them at all costs!

Before she could chastise herself harder for yet another slip-up, she noted that the blonde was indeed very busy outside, chopping away at the massive fallen tree with an axe and each swing was a perfect display of finesse and immense strength. The grey-blue tank top she had on clung to her muscular frame and the distressed jeans and heavy boots along with thick-rimmed glasses along with her newly cut hair completed a thoroughly new and slightly masculine look that she hated to admit to liking. A lot!

“Stop it,” she chastised herself firmly and turned away from the window to undress and take a much-needed shower, a cold shower for sure.

Kicking off her sneakers before pushing down her pants and the sensible white panties, she was unable to resist and glanced out the window again without being seen. Danvers was hard at work, carrying massive branches of the fallen oak over one shoulder and stacking them up in the corner of the garden. That short haircut she’d given the blonde made her broad shoulders and elegant neck stand out even more and when she pulled off her glasses to clean them on a corner of her top it exposed her otherworldly abs. Kara Danvers looked like a god and her own hand inched its way down between her legs before she stopped herself.

“Fuck,” she cursed at herself and turned away from the sight of her Farmgirl in her element. Unable to resist she checked once again wearing only her Nasa t-shirt that barely covered her butt.

Her Farmgirl was pulling the entire trunk of the tree with one arm over to a place where she could chop it up, every single fiber of muscle in her arms and back were rippling and the bright Kansas sun made the girl’s now short blonde hair appear as if it was glowing bright white. It was indeed like looking at a god that had come down to Earth. Despite shamefully having taken the edge off on the flight over with Kendra, she felt herself flushed with desire but no, she couldn’t, not while thinking about Danvers.

Discarding her t-shirt and unhooking her bra, she stepped into the shower and Danvers had been right, there was plenty of hot water the moment she turned the faucets. Closing her eyes, she ran her hands through her hair and then cupped her breasts which made her mind flashback to the memory of the flight attendant’s firm and dusky breasts, but even her own mind seemed to be against her today as the talk she’d had with the blonde earlier came unabated to her mind.

You don’t like them? She had asked the blonde about her breasts though she’d wanted to blurt out that they were fucking perfect like the rest of her unfairly sculpted body. Stop it, stop it, don’t do this, she thought to herself, but visions of Kara Danvers filled her mind.

The blonde smiling at her which warmed her heart, hugging her, saying that she was her best friend, that day at the gym, even what she’d seen when she’d walked in on the blonde with Eve Teschmacher, and no, no, not like this, damn you Luthor. Squeezing her breasts, she fantasized about her Farmgirl doing just that, but no Danvers would be gentle, sweet, and caring, everything she was not, and she moaned into the spray of the shower.

Shame mixed with desire and she rubbed herself furiously while forcing her hand between her legs and thinking of Kara Danvers pinning her down on the bed in the back of the jet. Would she undress her, tell her that she was beautiful, whisper that it was all going to be alright? Would they look into each other’s eyes as they made love? Would her blonde be tight and nervous or wet and willing? Would she make her feel whole?

“Fuck…” she groaned and plunged her fingers into herself under the hot spray of the shower while picturing Danvers’ muscular frame on top of her body.

Weak, she was so weak and pathetic, but the visions of Kara fucking Danvers swirling in her mind’s eyes were too much for her to handle. Humping against her own hand like some lovestruck and horny teenager, she squeezed her own breast until the stinging sensation made her whine. The blonde speaking in that lyrical alien language, the blonde bending her over and calling her names before thrusting into her hard and that fantasy did it. Just the idea of her Farmgirl, taking her and claiming her as her own was too much.

“Oooh god?! Kara...” she almost screamed and then whimpered the blondes' name before biting into her knuckle as she came, and she came hard! Harder than she’d cum in years and all she could see behind closed eyes was Kara Danvers’ smiling face as the blonde gently urged her to keep going. 

With her body shaking and her hand still between her legs pitifully rubbing herself, she slipped down into the water pooling at the base of the shower and hugged herself under the spray. What had that been? She couldn’t process it and now she felt even worse than before. Hauling herself out of the shower, she looked at herself in the mirror and saw a scared little girl looking back at her.

“This can’t happen again,” she tried to convince her reflection who of course didn’t respond. It never did. But as always, she was good at denial and she decided that for a few days, she could allow herself to be who she wanted to be for once. There was no harm in that, right?

With her hair still wet and her clothes bundled in her arms, she snuck back to Kara’s old room with the towel tightly wrapped around her body. Rummaging through one of her many suitcases she found the perfect dress. If she was going to pretend to be a good girl, a regular girl with a happy life, when around the farm and Kara then she should dress like one too. Pulling on another set of white and sensible underwear, she pulled the red sundress on over her head and she knew Kara would love this look.

Smiling at her reflection she tried to relax, but it was hard what with what a fucking mess she kept making of her life. But she braided her hair into two farmgirl-like braids since she couldn’t be bothered to blow dry it and then put on her white sneakers again seeing no need for a pair of her patented bitch heels today. Could she be this kind of girl for Danvers, one that was supportive, kind, and didn’t fuck around? A part of her wanted it so freaking bad that it hurt, and they’d barely been here for a day, but she already didn’t want to go back to Metropolis.

Forgoing putting on any make-up because there was no need to impress anybody for once, and knowing that Kara didn’t care, she walked down the stairs into the kitchen. There she saw Ma Kent breaking eggs into a bowl while the grey-haired woman kept one watchful eye on the window. It seemed that everyone here cared about Danvers’ wellbeing. 

“Hello again, ma’am... Danvers, I mean Kara told me that I should help out while she works on that tree in the garden,” she said in a low and polite voice allowing herself to be shy for once.

“I know what you mean when you call her Danvers, dear, no need to correct yourself all the time, and I told you that you can call me Ma,” the woman said while giving her a smile and she couldn’t resist checking on her friend in the back garden despite what she’d just done in the shower.

Danvers was chopping up the trunk of the fallen oak tree now with almost machine-like precision, a huge grin on her face as splinters flew everywhere with each powerful chop and she had to look away before she was caught staring. How could she even think about being worthy of a perfect being like Kara Danvers?

“Is there anything I can do… Ma?” she asked and stood in the doorway feeling unsure of herself but for once she allowed herself to simply be unsure of what to do.

“Of course, but drink that glass of orange juice first because Kara said you needed a pick-me-up after getting too much sun. Now tell me, do you know anything about baking?” Ma Kent asked and waved her over to the kitchen counter where she could spot what she guessed were the ingredients for a pie. And apparently, Kara hadn’t told her Ma that she was hungover which made her feel grateful.

“A little bit, from watching TV shows mostly,” she admitted to not being an expert on something and in the process allowing her defenses to slip a little bit around this plain-spoken woman. 

“Good, then you can separate these eggs for me,” the woman instructed her and handed her a bowl and some eggs to which she wordlessly started separating them. Thank you, Food Network binging while hungover all those times, she thought after taking a sip from the offered glass of orange juice.

“That’s good, careful now,” the grey-haired woman with her gentle eyes praised her and she found herself smiling at doing this simple task.

“Thank you,” she said shyly and picked up another egg and gently tapped it on the side of the bowl. 

“The gossip mill in town is going crazy, you know, but nobody has made the connection between you and your famous family name yet,” the woman assured her and admittedly she felt a bit better hearing that. If Kara Danvers got her manners from Pa Kent, then she got her kindness from Ma Kent that was for sure.

“Think we can keep it that way?” she asked again letting her voice sound as unsure as she felt, and the woman gently put a hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll try our best, we take care of our own around here,” Ma Kent declared and the fact she was saying that, and she’d only been here for half a day hit her hard.

“You… you don’t know me,” she stammered and fumbled with the next egg, not quite separating the egg whites perfectly.

“Kara has never brought anyone here before, that speaks volumes of how highly she thinks of you my dear,” the grey-haired woman declared and it caused her to mess up the next egg, something horrible. 

But when the egg cracked in a wrong way and splattered on her red sundress, Ma Kent wordlessly handed her an apron with a smile along with a wet washcloth to clean herself up. Smiling back at the woman she tidied herself up and put the apron on. This felt too nice, someone simply being kind to her instead of yelling at her for making mistakes. Which made her next question maybe not the smartest one to ask, but she had to know.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, Ma, but can I ask you something?” she asked after getting distracted by Danvers again though this time it wasn’t as lustful as before. Instead, she simply noted how cute and content the blonde looked while she was taking a break and joyfully basking in the sunshine.

“Of course, though only if you do it while folding about four cups of sugar into those egg whites,” the woman laughed and handed her a container of sugar and a pewter measuring cup.

“Why… why is she afraid of being who she wants to be?" Lena asked politely if a bit bluntly while feeling oddly at home while wearing an apron and helping make a pie that maybe she could present to the blonde later. That’s what normal girls did right?

"I... You have to understand, Lena, that when Kara started coming to our farm, we were already past our prime sort to speak and some might say out of touch. So, we thought that what had worked for her cousin would work for her... but I see now that wasn't right... that girl needed to spread her wings even if that means doing things her own ways, even if we perhaps don’t understand them fully," the grey-haired woman replied sounding remorseful.

"I... I wish my mother would admit that... and yes she is pretty incredible," she muttered and tried not to sniffle, but it just came out.

"You care for her, don't you?" Ma Kent asked and smiled at her as she found herself again blushing.

"I... I do, ma'am… I mean, Ma," she admitted and looked out the window where her Farmgirl with her short hair sticking up in the air was back at work again chopping up the massive tree with a grin on her face and splitters of wood sticking to her hair, face and shoulders.

"And did you cut her hair earlier?" the incredibly kind woman asked knowingly while glancing out the window where her Farmgirl had stopped to pet a tabby cat that had wandered over to watch the action.

"Yes, she asked me to, and I'd do anything for her," she blurted out and tried to hide herself in her work by folding the sugar into the egg whites. It was true, she’d do anything for the blonde girl that awkwardly burst into her life with her earnest observations and gentle smile.

"Well, that's good to hear and it suits her too, that mess of a mop she had was always getting in the way anyway!" Ma Kent declared and that made her laugh but also gave her an idea.

“Ma… can you help me prepare something for her?” she asked shyly not wanting to be too forward or rude, but again the sweet grey-haired woman just smiled and nodded.

“What do you have in mind, my dear?” Ma Kent asked cheerfully, and she found herself smiling. Because she knew what her Farmgirl liked more than anything in the world and that thing was food in copious amounts. With Ma Kent’s help, she could hopefully put on a picnic fit for a person with as big a heart as Kara Danvers had. You’re only pretending to play house with your blonde Farmgirl just like you did with Emma in that tent in Africa, her cynical side reminded her, but she ignored that voice for the first time in two years.

* * *

Having lost track of time and with there always being something to do on the farm, it wasn’t until at dusk that Danvers returned to the house. Though she had cheated a bit and checked in on Lena with her telescopic vision a few times. Though she found her worries to be unfounded because the green-eyed girl had seemed happy and content to be helping out Ma Kent in the kitchen and around the house while she worked. Hearing the girl laugh even though from a distance as Ma Kent showed her something new had been like music to her ears. Lena truly seemed to like it here which made her very happy for some reason. 

Stepping onto the porch after making sure the feed dispensers were full for the next few days, she was greeted by Lena, but it was a vision of Lena she hadn’t seen before. The pale girl had her long raven-dark hair braided into two pigtails, whole wearing a cute red sundress and with sneakers on her feet. To top it all of, the beautiful green-eyed girl was smiling sweetly at her while hiding something behind her back and she felt confused, to say the least. 

“You’re smiling, why are you smiling?” she asked her friend and checked if she had something on her face or the front of her clothes, but nope just the usual dirt and sweat from a hard day's work.

“No reason, but here... take this, go clean up and meet me in the orchard by the old barn when you’re ready,” Lena told her and handed her a frosted beer bottle, it was one of Pa Kent’s non-alcoholic beers, and kept smiling.

“I’m... confused…” she admitted but accepted the bottle and brought it up to her lips. There was no denying that the beer felt nice and refreshing after spending the afternoon in the sun and having Lena handing it to her had felt oddly right.

“Don’t be, you’ve been hard at work all day and you deserve to be treated a bit, so go on get cleaned up and change,” the green-eyed girl urged her and touched her arm gently before pushing her towards the door.

Feeling thoroughly confused but happily so, she headed upstairs while sipping at the beer Lena had handed her for some reason. Putting the bottle down on the bathroom sink she stripped out of her work clothes and took a quick shower. Loving her short new hair cut since it made things go much faster and she wondered what the green-eyed girl had in store for her tonight. 

Drying herself off she rummaged through her duffel bag and found the slight crumbled black suit she’d packed on a whim. Granted, she’d not worn it since that disastrous night but Lena’s casual business-look on the flight gave her an idea. Pulling on a plain white t-shirt over her breasts, she dressed in the midnight-black suit and her high tops and checking the mirror she ran her hand through her still wet hair with a grin leaving it messily slicked back.

“I can do this,” she said to herself while totally believing it for once and left her glasses on the nightstand seeing no reason to put them on before she followed both her ears and nose over to the orchard by the old barn. 

What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks, Lena had strung up the old Christmas lights from the trees, made up the picnic table that was there with what looked like a borrowed table cloth from Ma Kent’s drawers and a picnic basket sat ready on the table while soft music played from the girl’s phone. What was this?

“What...” she asked but was distracted by the fact that Lena was smiling, without any make-up on and with her hands behind her back waiting at attention.

“Looking sharp, Farmgirl, and I wanted to do something to say thank you... for being my friend,” the green-eyed girl said with a smile and shut the front door! Was Lena Luthor being shy?

“You didn’t have to,” she protested while pulling on the lapels of her jacket but with a rueful shake of her head the pale girl waved her over to the made-up picnic table.

“Nonsense, you deserve to be treated good,” Lena argued and not wanting to pick a fight she sat down while eyeing the picnic basket hungrily as her stomach took control of her higher functions. 

“Well… I’m not known to say no to food,” she admitted and that made the pale girl laugh before she started pulling assorted goodies out of the picnic basket to lay the table.

“Lemonade, your Ma swears by it,” the pale girl explained while pulling a bottle of Ma Kent’s Lemonade out of the basket along with two red cups.

“Salami sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mustard,” the pale girl went on pulling out two massive sandwiches wrapped in cellophane and put them down on the table and she felt her mouth starting to water.

“Chips! You’ve got to have chips and I know I’m not the best cook, but I try,” Lena laughed and pulled out a bag of potato chips, no doubt raided from Ma’s pantry, to go with their sandwiches.

“Chips are good,” she agreed and felt herself smiling from ear to ear, this was amazing, Lena was amazing and no, stop it, remember about Sam.

“For dessert, apple pie with cream, freshly made by yours truly with only a tiny bit of help,” the green-eyed girl declared proudly and pulled out a delicious-looking apple pie.

“And of course, assorted utensils and napkins,” Lena laughed and pulled the rest of the stuff out of the basket before putting it on the ground.

“A feast!” she found herself laughing while Lena sat down being mindful of her red dress and those green eyes were shining brightly in the light provided by the Christmas lights strung up over their heads.

“Dig in, don’t worry I got a spare sandwich in the basket if that one isn’t enough for you,” the green-eyed girl urged her to start and she didn’t need to be told that twice.

This was nice, sitting here with Lena, sharing a meal, she thought as they chatted over their sandwiches and chips. Then Lena plated up the apple pie while giving her the much larger piece of it and produced a can of spray-cream to top the slice off with a flourish and a giggle. This side of Lena was something else, relaxed, funny, smart, and sweet and she didn’t think that only because the pale girl was feeding her.

“Tell me, how or why did you build that system in the barn?” Lena asked her in between forkfuls of apple pie and she found herself grinning.

“The old system wasn’t very efficient and a new one would have cost too much, so I started going to the dump and to the Goodwill store in Smallville,” she explained while she fondly remembered the summer spent in her overalls scrounging for electronic components.

“Did you build the processors too or reuse some old parts?” the green-eyed girl asked with her eyes curious and again she could see that brilliant mind at work behind those amazing eyes.

“I’m not that good, no I mostly reused parts that were still working, but the processing load is being shared between like ten old CPUs I was able to salvage,” she explained and nobody had ever asked her about this stuff before.

“That’s still very impressive and you were what sixteen when you did that?” Lena asked and she nodded her head happily taking another huge bite of the delicious pie that the pale girl had made for them with a little bit of help. 

“It’s easy to forget how young you are, and maybe tomorrow I could take a look at it with you? You know in case you want some advice from somebody older and a bit wiser,” the green-eyed girl laughed to which she shrugged because she didn’t really think about age like that.

“I would like that and hey! You’re not that much older than me and I wouldn’t call you wiser either,” she replied and winked at the pale girl who threw her a dirty look before breaking out into a smile.

“Farmgirl, be nice! Another slice?” Lena offered with a laugh but for once she didn’t want more food, she wanted to enjoy this moment. Hanging out with her friend, talking tech, and teasing each other. 

“I think I’m full,” she begged off and that earned her a rather sweet raised eyebrow of doom, or was it an eyebrow of sweetness, was that a thing?

“I want to say thank you again for letting me pamper you like this,” the green-eyed girl said in a low voice and moved to sit next to her and there was something about the girl’s voice she couldn’t put her finger on.

“For what, you did all the hard work,” she said with a smile and as usual found herself putting an arm around the slender girl.

“You’ve been very nice to me and Ma and Jonathan too, it just… can I tell you something?” Lena asked with vulnerability in her eyes and her voice shaking. What was going on? Why was the girl feeling nervous all of a sudden?

“Of course, you can tell me anything, you know that Lee,” she said softly and watched the girl take a deep breath, but nothing came out and she was starting to really worry but tried to stay calm. It’s fine Zor-El, she’s your friend remember and you’ve had a great time up until now! 

“Lee, what’s gotten into you? Aren't we having a good time,” she insisted while now truly worried that she’d done something wrong by putting her arm around the girl like that, but nothing could have prepared her for what came out of her friend’s mouth. 

“I hooked up with Kendra,” Lena blurted out so fast that only thanks to her enhanced hearing and quick mind could she understand it.

“You… hooked up with Kendra… the flight attendant, when?” she asked while trying to stay calm. This shouldn’t have come as a massive surprise to her. Kendra was a stunning woman and Lena had leanings in that direction but what about Sam. Rao! Had she ruined a relationship by pushing her friend into the arms of the flight attendant?

“On the plane… while you were asleep… I’m sorry but I can’t… I mean I don't want to keep hiding things from you because I want you to trust me so badly, and you’ve all been incredibly kind to me, and…. I’m sorry,” the pale girl blurted out before whispering her sorries and tried to pull away from her, but she held fast.

“I… Lee, what about Sam? I won't tell but maybe you should be telling her this and not me?” she asked while still trying to process what was going on here while holding one arm around Lena’s trembling shoulders.

“Why, why would Sam care? You think she’d be mad at me too? Makes sense she keeps telling me that I screw up too often, god my mother is right I’m a disgrace,” Lena asked with her voice shaking and her green eyes wide as the girl was just rambling now.

“I thought, I mean I saw you and her together that one time and then I saw you pick up that girl so I thought that you were dating but like in secret,“ she blurted out now feeling embarrassed beyond belief too as it hit home how blind she’d been and deaf to what Lena had been telling her when the pale girl had said that she couldn't allow herself to do what she did with Eve.

“Sam and I are just friends... have been since high school, I sometimes pick up Ruby when she can’t get away from work on time,” Lena answered with her voice very small and weak as if she was waiting to be struck like some scared abused animal.

“Oh, and… Kendra?” she asked while trying not to scare the shaking girl any more than was needed. Sure, it was kind of gross what Lena had done but it wasn’t like she hadn’t entertained the idea herself.

“I was… drunk and I kind of didn’t ask permission before taking the plane and wait... you’re not mad at me?” the green-eyed girl asked with her voice shaking with what sounded like years of built-up fear and worry.

"Oh, come here, you silly girl!" she sighed and gave the girl the biggest hug she could muster while trying not to panic. She’s not dating Sam! She’s not dating Sam!

"You're not mad... you're not going to yell at me?" Lena whimpered into her shoulder and that made her feel even more perplexed. Why on Earth or Krypton would she yell at her best friend?

"Maybe a little mad and a tiny bit grossed out but why should I yell at you?" she asked sweetly and stroked the shaking girl’s back gently like a good friend because that was what Lena needed right then, but it caused something inside of the pale girl to shatter in her arms.

"Yell at me… hit me… I deserve it… I… mother no!” the pale girl broke down completely and she could feel the wetness of freshly shed tears soaking through her jacket.

"What has she done to you..." she whispered and stroked her friend’s raven-dark hair trying to give her as much comfort as she could possibly muster. 

Lena was wailing into her shoulder now with her pale fists banging against her back. But she couldn’t make out most of it, but she heard words like it’s not fair, I’m sorry mother, and I’m worthless, repeated over and over again. Oh, Lilian Luthor you’re in for a stern talking to one day soon, she decided and not for the first time.

"Okay, just let it all out, baby, I'm here for you... I've got you… not going anywhere," she kept stroking Lena’s hair and back until the crying died down. Crap she's single but no, no she's a mess and you have to be her friend now, she reminded herself. 

It took a long time for Lena to cry herself to sleep and after gently laying her down on the bench they had sat on she carefully packed up the picnic basket before carrying the girl back to the farmhouse in her arms where Pa was whittling wood on the porch. The girl in her arms felt very light and fragile when she shifted her around in her arms to give him a nod.

“Everything alright, pumpkin?” he asked quietly and kept working on the wooden horse he was whittling out of a chunk of wood from the oak she’d chopped up into firewood earlier.

“I think so, she needed a good cry,” she replied solemnly, and her adoptive grandpa nodded at her with a look of understanding in his kind blue eyes.

“You are very fond of her, aren’t you?” he asked her while she put the picnic basket down without ever letting go of Lena who, despite being out of it snuggled, into her neck.

“I… I am,” she admitted and looked at the pale girl in her arms with a faint smile. Indeed, she was very fond of Lena Luthor, but there were more important things to worry about right now.

“Get her to bed, maybe tomorrow things will look brighter,” Pa said with a small smile and she nodded her head and carried her precious cargo up to her room.

Laying the pale girl down on the bed, no way she was letting her sleep on the floor, she pulled off Lena’s white sneakers and pulled the covers up to her chin. While sleeping Lena looked peaceful, without worry, and the hardness that was always at the corners of the girl’s eyes was gone making her look fragile and younger than she usually acted. For a second, she debated climbing into bed with her friend, but no that wouldn’t be proper without her permission. 

Instead, laying out the spare mattress on the floor she kicked off her own shoes and took off her jacket, as she was laying her head down on the pillow she heard a whine coming from the bed but she could tell from Lena’s breathing and heart rate that she was still sleeping. Reaching out with her hand she found the girl’s fumbling pale hand and squeezed it which seemed to calm her down. What a freaking mess her life kept on being, she thought as she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And 13.000 words later they're both still massive gay messes but at least they're honest about it :)
> 
> Now a bit of admin. 
> 
> First of all a huge thanks to MistressErin who lent a hand and sacrificed sanity proofreading this beast of a chapter and second if you made it this far I hope you enjoyed the mid-season finale! 
> 
> For those reading this when it's posted, I'm going on a two-week vacation now to be with family that I've not seen since the world turned a bit crazy and I don't expect to have much time to write, but when we get back well...
> 
> When The Internship returns from its mid-season break you can look forward to!
> 
> Rumors! As Kara and Lena are spotted out and about in Smallville with Lena playing pretend at being a regular girl away from the prying eyes of her mother!
> 
> Latino heat! The return of Officer Sawyer and all kinds of interesting situations that Danvers gets into it with the firey latinx!
> 
> Fan Service! Kara works out! Like alot!
> 
> Drama! A visit from big sister Alex Danvers who has some questions and a few secrets of her own!
> 
> Plot? The birth of a hero and a long-overdue name reveal!
> 
> Thirst!
> 
> Angst!
> 
> Adorable seven-year-old Ruby?
> 
> All this and more when The Internship returns!


	12. Our Pretend Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena plays at a happy pretend life with Kara Danvers in Smallville as the green-eyed girl finds out more about what makes her Farmgirl tick while Danvers tries to figure out what the Rao is going on with her friend.

Lena woke up startled and right away something felt off, she was in a strange bed, wearing last night's dress, though neither of those things were new for her in any sense of the word, but someone very important was missing. That someone was Kara Danvers whose old bedroom she was sharing during their stay on the blonde’s extended family’s farm in Smallville, but the tall blonde Farmgirl wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Rolling out of the bed she stepped on an empty mattress where Danvers must have spent the night and became keenly aware that she still felt exhausted after breaking down and crying in the girl’s arms the night before. 

And of course, Kara had slept on the floor because her Farmgirl would have never been so rude as to share the bed with her, not without her express and clear consent at least, she thought with a gentle smile as she pushed the mattress up against the wall.

Looking at herself in the nearby mirror where she’d cut Kara’s hair the day before, she saw that her cheeks were still tear-stained, that her eyes were puffy and she looked like ten miles of bad country road to borrow a phrase from a song she’d heard on the radio in the kitchen the day before, but she also felt, dare she think it, good. For the first time in over two years, she’d been totally honest with someone and they’d accepted her without question. It had felt incredibly liberating that Kara Danvers had accepted her with all her faults and damages and smiling in the mirror to herself, she walked across the hallway to the bathroom where she splashed some water on her face to make herself presentable. 

While scrubbing the tears from her face she heard a low thud coming from outside and to investigate its source she poked her head out the bathroom window as the sun was rising over the horizon. With the sun’s first rays casting an orange glow over the cornfields that surrounded the farm she could see where Kara’s jury-rigged irrigation system was coming to life and creating tiny rainbows in the process. Straining her ears, she heard another rumbling thud coming from the old barn where she’d treated her blonde Farmgirl to a picnic the night before while playing pretend house. But she’d liked it, liked the simplicity of it all, the smile on Danvers’ face when she had handed her that cold beer, the laughter over their shared if simple meal and she decided that for the next few days she was going to keep playing pretend if only for a little while.

Returning to the room across the hall she wasted no time stripping out of her dress and last night’s admittedly skimpy underwear that she’d put on just in case, and as she pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans looking around she saw the clothes that Danvers had worn the day before scattered around the room. Leaning into her pretend life she folded them and put them away for later and even allowed herself to smell them. Then she pulled on a comfy blue threadbare sweater to ward off the morning chill and stuffing her feet into a pair of boots that were too big for her, she went to investigate the sounds coming from the old barn.

The thudding almost pounding noises grew louder as she approached the half-painted barn and after stopping to check on the happily sleeping piglets, she found the doors to the barn open a crack as she sneakily slipped inside. Before she could call out Kara’s name the sight that greeted her robbed her of both speech and all sensible thought while making her quiver like some silly schoolgirl with a crush.

The barn was indeed a makeshift gym like her Farmgirl had told her about back in Metropolis, but a gym where all the equipment looked either oversized or like repurposed farm equipment and there were also massive rocks laid out to be lifted up onto sturdy boxes. In the center of the vast open space, hanging from the ceiling beams on a massive chain was what looked like the engine block pulled out of a combine harvester or some equally massive piece of farming equipment and standing in front of it was Kara Danvers. A god made flesh. 

The sight of her blonde Farmgirl, standing tall, wearing only a pair of grey shorts and a white cropped tank top with her hands and arms taped up and practicing her footwork barefoot at an amazing speed on the dusty floor, was unearthly. Then the blonde rained down punches on the hunk of metal in front of her with each blow connecting with a sound, not unlike a gunshot as unyielding metal met knuckles of steel. Staring much Luthor, she thought to herself and Tesla’s Coils did she know she was staring but she couldn’t stop. 

Each blow rattled the heavy rusted chains that the engine block turned punching bag hung from as Danvers’ now short blonde hair bounced with each movement of her statuesque and muscular body and then she delivered a quick succession of punches before practicing her dodging against her own shadow. Unable to stop herself she stared harder while hugging herself feeling small in the presence of this being from another world. Unabashedly, however, she gazed at those legs, corded and powerful enough to allow the blonde to jump the tallest buildings, that broad back, and those strong and freckled shoulders that she was guilty of leaning on way too often and those rippling arms that she wanted around her all the time. 

Finally, the punches grew heavier as she could see the rage growing in her Farmgirl’s blue eyes, so much anger, all that rage, it was terrifying yet exhilarating to behold, the engine block buckled underneath her friend’s taped up fists and with a final punch she drove her fist and arm straight through the block of metal sending showers of sparks and fragments of the engine block all over the floor of the barn

“You sleep okay?” Danvers then asked in a low voice that felt like it rumbled through her entire being without looking at her while withdrawing a taped-up fist from the hole the formidable blonde punched through at least ten inches of solid steel. 

“I… yes… and thank you… for letting me have the bed I mean,” she replied haltingly while unconsciously hugging herself again as she felt like she was in the presence of a totally different person than she’d arrived with in Smallville the day before. Also, had the blonde been putting on a show for her benefit? No, that couldn’t be it!

“And I didn’t mean to worry you, I woke up early, well that’s a lie I don’t need much sleep and I haven’t gotten the chance to work out since we went to the mall together,” the blonde then sheepishly apologized while scratching the back of her head and in a flash, she had her goofy and earnest Farmgirl back.

“I’m sorry, again, I know I keep messing up as your friend, but I promise I can do better and…” she started apologizing again and Kara simply smiled at her as the blonde picked up a massive boulder easily weighing several hundred pounds.

“Lee, I’m not mad at you and if you want to cry again I'm here for you, so relax, though maybe next time you want to hook up with someone, get a room as they say?” The blonde joked with a broad smile, and she closed her mouth while nodding as the powerful girl in front of her started raising the rock above her head before bringing it down in a squat with authority a few times.

“Of course, I mean I’m not going to hook up with anybody anytime soon but if I do I’ll get a room and just how strong are you?” she babbled, she never babbled but here she was feeling tiny in the presence of a god. 

“Don’t know, never really tested the upper limits,” Danvers admitted and put the boulder down before picking up a jump rope and she debated looking away not needing to see Kara Danvers bouncing.

Stop it! You’re Lena Luthor, it’s fine playing pretend but you’re still not some easily flustered secretary, she reminded herself. “Well, you look healed up at least, but you’re not thinking about going back out there when we get back to Metropolis, what if you get hurt?” she asked and now she was filled with worry because those Intergang members were still out there with a dagger made out of Kryptonite that could hurt Kara. 

“I’ll figure out a way, but I’m not leaving the people that live in the Slums at the mercy of those idiots,” the blonde declared and started jumping rope but at a speed she couldn’t keep up with, and in the end, trying to so only hurt her eyes.

“You need a better plan than that Farmgirl…” she said while hoping that she could convince the blonde just how concerned she was for her wellbeing, but Kara didn’t stop jumping rope with a determined look on her face and the rope hitting the dirt floor started kicking up dust.

“Danvers…” she exclaimed a bit louder, but she wasn’t getting through to the blonde who was frowning slightly as the jump rope beat a steady rhythm against the ground. It was clear to her now that Kara Danvers didn’t like to be told what to do, not one bit as a matter of fact.

“Kara, stop!” she shouted reverting back to the name she knew the girl didn’t want to be called by to get her attention and she felt shitty for doing it, but truthfully, to her, the blonde would always in some ways be Kara. 

Danvers stopped, dropped the rope, and gave her a hard look, it was piercing, and those blue eyes were aflame with passion and fury. Was this what dwelled underneath the humble exterior of earnest Kara Danvers, this fierce and noble woman from another world?

“I meant what I said the other day, and I think I can help you when we get back home to Metropolis, please let me help you,” she offered politely and walked up to her friend, just her friend because right now she couldn’t have her little dreams getting in the way of keeping this incredible girl safe.

“How? I’ve been thinking about it... what if I’m fast enough I could disarm them, throw the knife away or something,” Danvers asked and even though she knew the girl was probably faster than a speeding bullet she’d seen up close the horrific effects that the glowing green metal had on the blonde.

“Why don’t we workshop that idea a little bit and I’ll let you in on a secret Farmgirl, I’m really smart,” she said with her patented Luthor-smirk that shut up the blonde on the spot.

“I know, I can see it behind your eyes, you’re always thinking,” the blonde admitted with that earnest tone to her voice that she loved so much, and it made her smirk turn into a grin. 

“You say the nicest things Danvers, so, let me examine that piece of the knife that I hid at my place, and maybe I can come up with a better solution than you risking your life by trying to be faster than radiation poisoning?” she asked and unable to resist she put her hand on the blonde’s arm where the brave girl had been previously injured, but now there was only smooth, warm and tan skin there. Then her annoying mind pointed out to her that it was firm with rippling muscles that felt very much like reinforced steel cables. Stay focused here Luthor!

“Alright and I… I’m glad you came with me on this trip, well you are my ride but I’m glad you came along despite everything that’s happened,” Danvers agreed softly and again she felt like she didn’t deserve the friendship of this wonderful creature but she would hold onto it for as long as she could.

“Everything being me, not being able to keep it in my pants and crying a lot?” she asked and she had to admit that it felt good to joke about what had happened since the blonde never seemed to judge her for her messed up actions.

“Hey! I’ve said it already I don’t blame you, but yeah if you ever feel like you need to talk or you know cry about anything my shoulders are always available,” the blonde offered and damn it she wanted to say several things of varying degrees of sappiness but then they were interrupted by the barn doors being pushed open.

“What is this unholy ruckus at the crack of dawn?” Ma Kent demanded from the entrance to the barn wearing only a floral robe and slippers with an annoyed expression on her face and her hair in curlers. 

“Sorry, Ma, I wanted to work out a little bit before breakfast,” Kara apologized right away and she could see the blush creeping into the girl’s tan cheeks but she also observed how the tall blonde moved her powerful body to shield her from the adorable wrath of Ma Kent. Busted!

“Well, you shouldn’t do that on an empty stomach, come on, Lena you can help with the eggs and bacon while this one sweeps up that mess over there before joining us in the kitchen after putting on some clothes,” Ma Kent declared before breaking into a smile and pointing to the pieces of a broken engine block that covered the floor.

Back in the kitchen, she set about preparing the best breakfast her limited skill set could achieve for her Farmgirl, but she wasn’t a fool, she knew that once she was back in Metropolis she would have to be careful again about being seen with Danvers. Yet, for now, she was going to ignore that and focus on showing the blonde the best side of herself, the girl who she wanted to be. 

If only for a few days.

* * *

Kara Zor-El was confused, very confused and while the eggs and bacon Lena had made were delicious, this change that had come over the pale-skinned girl was perplexing, to say the least. Totally gone was the bossy and sarcastic young if haunted woman from Metropolis, replaced with a radiant girl that was still sarcastic, of course, but who smiled, spoke softly and pottered around Ma Kent’s kitchen like it was her second home. It all made her feel things she didn’t know how to process. 

“That’s quite the change in your friend there, but she at least looks better than last night,” Pa commented with one eye on his tablet reading the news after Lena wearing an apron topped up her plate with another helping of bacon and this time accompanied by fried tomatoes.

“She just needed to find her farm-feet I guess,” she replied and dug into her third helping of a seemingly never-ending stream of food that the green-eyed girl was supplying her with this morning.

Having put on her sneakers and thrown on her hoodie, that still smelled like Lena, over her workout gear she’d been ushered to her seat by an apron-wearing Lena Luthor when she had stepped into the kitchen. This was all very strange, but she went along with it since it seemed to make the green-eyed girl happy to dote on her like this. 

“We’re going to run out of bacon at this rate,” Pa murmured with a faint smile on his lined face, and looking at the massive pile on her plate she had to agree with him while she wondered if she should remind Lena about the adorable piglets to make the cooking stop.

“Lee, sit down and have some breakfast too, please,” she called into the kitchen where she could hear and smell even more food being prepared along with the pale girl happily humming.

“I will in a bit!” Lena called back from the kitchen and she could hear Pa chuckling as he scrolled through the news.

“What’s so funny?” she asked and bit into a slightly burned piece of bacon, Lena meant well but her skills in the kitchen weren’t yet quite on the level of Ma Kent, but she would get there.

“Be truthful pumpkin, are you two being ambidextrous together?” he asked with his usual casual bluntness and it didn’t kick in for her that he meant bisexual until a few moments had passed with her munching happily on her bacon.

“No, Lena is… Lena is a friend and I don’t think you’re using that word right,” she laughed nervously while running her hand through her short hair which still felt new but also right. But his comment did make her think, but no, right now she only wanted the green-eyed girl to be happy and complicating things wouldn’t do either of them any favors.

“Well then, I wish my friends cooked me four helpings of bacon,” he dryly commented and she could only roll her eyes at that with a sigh but she did love this plainspoken farmer that had become her adoptive grandfather over the years.

“Did someone say fourth helping of bacon?” Lena asked excitedly while poking her head out of the kitchen with a smile on her lips, her unpainted and quite lovely lips, and with her long raven-dark hair in a bun on the top of her head that had a few hairs escaping and falling in front of her flawless pale face. Focus Zor-El!

“Lee, sit down,” she ordered the green-eyed girl firmly and that made the pale girl laugh for some reason but she did bring out a plate for herself along with a cup of tea and sat down right next to her which made her tense up for a second before managing to relax.

“What's the plan for today?" the bright-eyed girl asked perkily while wiggling in her seat and she couldn't help but smile at this enthusiastic side to her pale friend that she was being privy to. 

“I… well,” she stammered because truth be told she hadn’t thought about what to do beyond hanging around the farm and working on her inventions in the barn while doing the odd chore.

"I need to go into town to run a few errands if you girls want to tag along," Pa Kent offered, and in the process saving her bacon and that made Lena give her the cutest look, but she also keenly remembered the girl crying herself to sleep in her arms the night before.

"I'd love seeing where Farmgirl used to hang out," the pale girl declared brightly and whatever change had come over the girl she found herself liking it. In fact, she liked it a lot.

After a hearty breakfast, they stuffed themselves into Pa's truck with Lena changing into yet another sundress, this one black with a white floral pattern while wearing white Chuck Taylor's paired with it and with a white hairband on to keep her straight and loose raven-dark hair out of her pale face. 

Very fifties and maybe she really did need all those bags, she had thought to herself as she rummaged through her clothes after they’d swapped places in the small room. Having somewhat more limited options she opted for a pair of jeans, good ones, a sleeveless red-checkered shirt over a white tank top, and her work boots because they were just comfortable though she did give them a quick polish. Putting the glasses on out of habit she stepped out of the room, but the first thing Lena did when she saw her was to take them off and shake her head to which she blushed but didn’t protest. If Lena wanted glasses-free Kara Danvers, then she’d get glasses-free Kara Danvers and truth be told it felt special that the pale girl wanted to see her without them.

Smallville was fairly busy and crowded when they pulled into town in the bright sunlight and she felt a little bit nervous because the last time she'd been here she'd been plain old Kara Danvers and not Danvers the receptionist seducer. After helping Lena out of the truck, the pale girl clung to her arm while Pa Kent stepped into the Hardware Store telling them that he’d be a while, mostly gossiping with the other farmers she knew. When she’d been quiet for a while and looking around trying to figure out where to take the girl, Lena spoke. The girl’s voice was extremely soft and so very different that she wondered, and not for the first time either, what in Rao's name was going on here?

"Where to first?" Lena asked brightly while she struggled to accept that this girl who made her breakfast, didn't wear makeup, and smiled all the time was the same girl she'd met back in Metropolis.

“Sadly we’re not drowning in options, there is Main Street, the church, the diner, the ice-cream parlor and oh the river of course,” she blurted out while being heavily distracted by her friend’s gentle fingers on her bare arms

“I could go for a stroll,” the pale girl offered sweetly and while she really wanted to ask what in Rao’s name, again, was going on she was distracted by the honest-to-Rao smile on Lena’s lips, not a smirk, or a grin, no this was a full-on smile. Enough with the Raos already Zor-El, just enjoy something for once, she chastised herself firmly or at least the voice that sounded like Alex did.

“I’ll give you the dime-tour then,” she agreed and together they strolled up Main Street, drawing a few looks but she put those down to Lena looking stunning in that black sundress and when the pale girl smiled it was like looking at a neutron star.

Then those old habits and fears came back unexpectedly when she saw a few girls she recognized from a barn dance she’d attended last year, though, in reality, she’d stood in the corner most of the night while Alex, Clark, and Lois who had come for a visit did most of the dancing. Back then she’d worn a dress, a pink one that covered up her arms and now she was here with her strong and tan arms exposed and her blonde hair short and masculine while dressed like a boy, but Lena seemed to sense her discomfort.

“You alright, Farmgirl?” the pale girl asked gently to which she gave a stiff nod. It didn’t help matters and right away the brilliant girl’s green eyes were drawn to the group of girls hanging out in a small park nearby. 

“Come on,” the pale girl declared as she took hold of her arm firmly and marched them through the park, making sure they were seen and in a distinctly un-Lena like display, the girl laughed that rich laugh of hers while clinging to her arm. 

“What are you doing?” she whispered and had to fight hard simply not to run away and hide in the truck. People were looking at her, people she knew, and they were whispering something she didn’t dare listen in on.

“Making them jealous, do you think it’s working?” Lena whispered back and using her telescopic vision slightly she could see that they were at least being watched and yep there was some jealousy on the girls’ faces.

“I think so,” she whispered and this little game seemed to amuse Lena to no end and again she simply went with the flow as she was learning that swimming against the stream when it came to Lena Luthor was pointless. Also, she was proud of who she was now!

“Good, never let them see you hang your head, Farmgirl, do you understand?” the green-eyed girl asked with a bit more bite to her voice then and she gave a nod, but also worried about her friend’s, hold on they were only friends right, harsh outlook on life.

What neither girl realized was that their little display had set the Smallville rumor mill a flame and not that the sleepy town needed much for that to happen, but their stroll had been noticed by many. Messages flew in chat groups, texts were exchanged, grandmas dived for their phones and tablets, and within the hour the news of Kara Danvers’ stroll with a pretty pale girl in a black and white floral dress on her exposed arm was the talk of the town

Did you see the girl Kara Danvers brought home? One text message read, and it was followed by another one that exclaimed. Yeah total goth goddess and what’s with the hair and did anyone know that she was jacked? That was followed by a message that read. Oh my god, you are totally gay for Kara Danvers!

Of course, neither Kara nor Lena were aware of this, instead, Kara walked her friend through town and down to the bridge over the river where a group of boys were jumping into the cool and refreshing water to try to impress a group of giggling girls. High School kids really, but seeing it made Lena laugh wistfully.

“They’re doing it wrong, it’s much more fun if you climb up on the beams,” she observed as one of the boys jumped off the deck of the steel-girder bridge feet first into the slowly flowing river that wound its way through the town.

"Maybe you should show them how it’s done then,” the pale girl suggested with a mischievous look on her flawless face that seemed to glow in the bright sunlight, and again she had no idea what was going on here.

“You want me to?” she asked and heard a loud splash as another of the boys cannonballed into the waters from the railing.

Lena went quiet, but another splash could be heard and there was something about how the green-eyed girl was looking at her that made her unbutton her shirt without thinking about it. If Lena Luthor wanted a show, she’d give her a damn good one and plus she’d always loved jumping in the river.

"I guess I could show them how it's done," she conceded while some unspoken arrangement between her and her pale-skinned friend was agreed upon as she pulled off her shirt and unconsciously rotated her shoulders.

With an eager nod, again uncharacteristic for the green-eyed girl, Lena wordlessly produced her phone to record her upcoming feat while she kicked off her boots and pulled off her socks before emptying her pockets, a hard-learned lesson from summer's past. Then she started climbing the steel beams of the bridge to reach higher than most of the boys were jumping from. At one point even hoisting herself up using only her upper body strength and doing a few pullups while hanging off one of the beams as yet again she got this unexplainable urge to show off for the pale-skinned girl.

"Go, Kara! Go! Woo!" Lena cheered her on and she balanced on a beam near the top of the steel-girder bridge before giving the pale girl a wave and then taking the plunge into the cool waters of the river below.

"Woohoo! That's my…" she could hear Lena whooping and shouting and filming the dive on her phone, but the rest of the girl’s yell was cut off when she hit the water. What everyone else saw and heard was Lena Luthor shouting that's my girl while pumping her pale fist in the air as Kara Danvers showed everyone how it was done.

Emerging laughing and soaking wet while running a hand through her short blonde hair, she was grinning from ear to ear until an oddly panicked Lena came running down to the river to her while holding up her shirt as she noticed that she should have maybe just this once worn a bra.

* * *

Lena watched in awe along with the teenagers gathered on the bridge and along the river as Kara climbed higher and higher up the frameworks of the steel-beamed bridge. Her Farmgirl was brave there was no doubt about that, and it made the fact that this was all pretend on her part hurt but she still cheered as Kara climbed higher. Then she got distracted and almost dropped her phone when showing off her immense strength, her Farmgirl started doing pullups that made her back and shoulders flex and her arms bulge before hoisting herself to the top of the bridge. 

"Woohoo! That's my girl!" she shouted even though it was a lie and filmed the blonde's dive on her phone. 

Gracefully, the tall blonde dived into the river head first with her arms extended, after a seemingly endless fall her toned body cut through the surface of the water like a knife and then as her Farmgirl emerged like a goddess from the clear blue water she remembered to her horror that Kara Danvers was staunchly anti-bra. The white and soaking wet now see-through tank top clung to the girl's muscular frame as she emerged and fucking hell those were some very small but perky breasts.

"Oh please, Tesla’s Coils, please don't wave... don't wave…" she muttered as she grabbed the girl's red shirt, boots and socks and rushed down to the river while Kara of course waved to the cheering teenagers gathered on the bridge and along the river.

"Lee, did you see!?" the blonde asked excitedly and then gave her a confused look as she held up the shirt to shield her Farmgirl from view though she was getting an eyeful which she didn’t need to deal with right now. Perky! So very perky!

"Put your shirt on, Farmgirl," she hissed under her breath and her clueless friend took a moment to realize that she had her very perky girls on display. Time for another shower, Luthor?

"Oh gosh!" the adorable blonde exclaimed and grabbed the shirt holding it to her chest. Though it did nothing to hide those arms and shoulders glistening with droplets in the sun and the girl’s short blonde hair was dark and matted to her head.

"You're… something else, Farmgirl," she sighed and tried to shield the impossibly tall girl from view while the blonde redressed.

"That's me, the Something-Else Girl, you want to go for ice cream next?" Kara asked cheerfully after overcoming her momentary embarrassment at having won the impromptu wet t-shirt contest judging by the mixed-gender cheers coming from the bridge.

This girl was something else, that was the damn truth, like nobody she’d ever met before aside from Emma and that made the fact she was playing pretend for the weekend hurt that much more but she pushed her feelings deep down inside again and smiled at Kara holding out her arm which the blonde took happily, though still being soaking wet. 

“Shouldn’t you dry off first?” she asked but in response, the blonde shook herself like a wet dog sending water spraying in all directions which she couldn’t help but to laugh at.

“All dry, ice cream time!” Danvers declared before she grabbed her arm again and dragged her back toward the Main Street of Smallville. 

Rolling her eyes she allowed herself to be escorted to the small but cute though extravagantly named Dot’s Ice Cream Palace on Main Street and there was something about seeing her friend walking proud and with her head held high that gave her a pleasant warm feeling in her chest. You show them, Kara Danvers, you show them who you truly are when you're with me, she thought. Though the bell above the door ringing returned her to reality in quick fashion.

“What do you want?” her Farmgirl offered while rummaging through her pockets and coming up with somewhat meager pickings. 

It hurt seeing her Farmgirl always this broke, even though she knew the interns at LexCorp weren’t paid much, the perpetual brokenness of Kara Danvers surprised her, but she wouldn’t dare offer to pay, knowing that Danvers’ sense of pride was too strong for that and she’d already flown them here.

"Can we share a banana split? I don't think I can eat a full one by myself,” she suggested after carefully and discreetly counting the bills and coins Danvers managed to fish out of her pockets to make sure she wouldn’t eat into the girl’s funds too heavily. It felt nice to be treated but she wasn’t going to burden her friend unnecessarily. 

“Share... I guess we could do that,” Kara agreed while sounding somewhat dubious to the whole concept of sharing but ordered for them from a nice and cheerful looking older lady behind the counter with a white cap on her head and a matching apron.

“One banana split, Dot, and two spoons please,” the strong-voiced blonde ordered for them and yet again she had to remind herself that this was all pretend, but Tesla’s Coils that woman’s voice when she dropped the timbre of it down low was like standing next to a speaker at a loud concert with how it reverberated through her body.

“Kara... is that you?” the grey-haired lady behind the counter asked and she could see Kara blushing slightly at the question posed by the wide-eyed woman.

“Yep, in the flesh, how have you been doing, Dot?” the blonde asked sweetly while running her hand through her still damp short hair and Tesla’s Coils, again, why did she have to be so polite and why did that make knowing that they would be going back to normal after this trip worse.

“I have no complaints dear, and who is your friend here?” the lady in the white apron behind the counter asked and she allowed Kara to take care of the introductions, letting herself relax and allowing her Farmgirl to take the lead. Luthors never took a back seat but she’d gladly do so for Kara Danvers.

“This is Lee, I’m showing her the town,” her Farmgirl cheerfully declared and the bright sound of that voice made her blush despite fighting against it.

“Lena Luthor, at your service,” she introduced herself and smiled at the ice-cream lady who gave her a friendly smile in return.

“Ah, the pale girl on the jet, well you certainly don’t look like a maneater,” the lady joked and she nervously chuckled while watching their shared banana split being assembled.

“Lee isn’t a…” Kara jumped to her defense right away, but she put her hand on the blonde’s strong arm, the lady wasn’t wrong, technically.

“But I never believe the gossip anyways and here you go a split to share for the sweethearts,” the lady laughed and handed them the impressive-looking banana split with two spoons as they both wordlessly chose to ignore the comment about them being sweethearts.

“Thank you, Dot,” Kara nodded to the lady and guided them to a booth by the window overlooking the street outside while carefully holding their treat.

“You didn’t have to do that, defend me like that I mean,” she spoke softly to the tall blonde and picked up her spoon with a shy smile. Why did this girl have to be this goddamn perfect?

“Of course I had to do that, you’re my friend,” her Farmgirl declared with a beaming smile while taking a chunk out of the banana split with her spoon.

Friend, yes, that was a safe designation and her mother wouldn’t be too upset if she had a friend. You can do this Luthor, for her safety, you can be Kara Danvers’ friend and nothing more than that but why does she have to smile at me like that!

“Thank you,” she mumbled and got very busy with her ice-cream, usually she’d say something snarky or flirty, but today she was happy to allow herself to simply be Lee, a regular girl out on a not-quite date with a tall, blonde and earnest girl. Then later tonight when Kara returned from her chores, she’d have a cold drink and a snack waiting for her girl and they’d chat about everything and nothing again. A happy little pretend life if only for a couple of days.

“Anytime, Miss Lee,” Kara laughed while doing her best or maybe worst John Wayne impression and tipping her imaginary cowboy hat.

Of course, the world wouldn’t allow her to have this moment, and as she was about to say how nice this all felt while also trying to bring up the subject that once they got back to Metropolis they would have to establish some boundaries, shadows loomed over them and looking up she saw three farmer’s sons, for a lack of a better description, standing over them and glowering.

“Can I help you fellas?” her Farmgirl asked in a friendly voice after swallowing her latest spoonful of ice-cream and it was clear that Kara Danvers gave everyone the benefit of the doubt.

“We want a word with Wednesday Addams here, not you, Danvers,” the trio’s frontman, a boy easily as tall as Kara and twice as wide wearing a beat-up black t-shirt and jeans, grunted.

“Want to say that again while remembering your manners, Brackenridge,” Kara demanded with her voice growing darker as the powerful blonde rose to her feet with effortless grace and she knew she had to stop this when she saw the girl square her broad shoulders.

“Her family’s company just bought out Jefferson’s farm, didn’t even give them a chance to settle with the bank,” the Brackenridge boy explained and pointed an accusing and callused finger at her only for Kara to grab him by the wrist.

“Manners and don’t make me ask you again, now what has gotten you so upset because that farm had been in foreclosure for years,” the blonde growled and with no effort pushed the boy’s outstretched arm down even as he struggled against her strength.

“Danvers…” she whispered but Kara was in full-on protective mode it would seem and as much as it sped up her heart rate to see that being done on her behalf, her friend was being careless.

“LexCorp has been jumping on any vulnerable farm since you left, Danvers, and now you bring one of them here on a date?” the Brackenridge boy went on and she swore she could hear a low crackling sound coming from Kara’s blue eyes.

“She is nothing like them, now apologize Brackenridge and maybe we can have a civilized talk about this,” Kara replied with her voice dropping low while the blonde didn’t back down and her blue eyes were drilling a hole through the boy’s skull with the intensity in them.

“Go away to Metropolis for a few weeks and come back thinking you’re hot shit, uh Danvers?” he asked trying to stand up taller and in response, Kara only gave him a cocky grin which she’d rarely seen on the blonde’s face before.

“And what about it? I bet you are still trying to convince Amy Lee Smith to come to Devil’s Pond with you, now leave and maybe I won’t pay her a visit,” the blonde fired back and before she could warn her Farmgirl about the incoming fist heading for her head, Kara had already caught it with a sickening crunching sound.

“Fucking Kent dyke,” the boy grunted as his friends tried to step in as again she heard that crackling sound and she remembered that Kara was a Kryptonian, which meant heat-vision as the blonde stared down the other boys daring them to do something.

“Kara!” she shouted and that seemed to snap the Farmgirl out of her protective mode as she put her hand on top of Kara’s strong hand that was holding the boy's fist with his arm shaking from the strain of matching strength with the blonde.

“Whatever this is, it’s over,” the blonde growled at the boy and gave him a shove to the chest that sent him and his friends backing him up stumbling backward. 

“It’s over when I say it’s over, Danvers,” the boy growled back trying to regain some of his standing with his friends even though he was shaking his red and swollen hand.

“I whipped you at the County Fair last year when I caught you bothering that girl, don’t forget that,” the still pissed-off looking blonde then reminded him and then the lady behind the counter broke up their little stand-off.

“If you boys aren’t going to buy anything, I’m going to ask you to leave,” the apron-wearing owner of the place asked while wielding a broom and that sent the boys stomping towards the door with an angry huff.

“Don’t stay in town long, Addams,” one of them fired one last insult in her direction and she had to put a steadying hand on Kara’s arm to keep her in check. There was rage bubbling in her Farmgirl she knew she had to quench, but she also felt the need to assert herself since you could only keep that good old Luthor ego suppressed for so long.

“I’m feeling generous today but make no mistake that if we weren’t having such a nice outing, you’d be wishing that I were Wednesday Addams. But yes, I am Lena Luthor and trust me, little boy, I’m much scarier,” she told him coolly as she narrowed her eyes and grinned at him with all the Luthor pride she had inside of her making them scurry away all the faster.

“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Kara mumbled but she didn’t relax her shoulders but instead kept a wary eye on the retreating boys through the ice-cream parlor’s windows.

"Danvers, as cute as that was you don't have to defend me all the time you know," she murmured with a smile tugging at the corners of her lipstick free lips as they sat back down to finish their treat.

"Hey! They were being very mean to you!" Kara protested while throwing one last glare at the retreating boys with her chest puffed out and her shoulders firmly squared.

"Yes, but your eyes were almost glowing darling, not a good look... in daylight I mean," she countered in a whisper and lied through her teeth because Kara's eyes glowing white-red and dangerous was fucking hot!

“Here you go, my dears, on the house,” Dot, the lady who owned the place, said as she brought them a Chocolate Sundae that had a tiny umbrella in it with a gentle smile on her lips.

“You don’t have to,” she protested while again being mindful of Kara’s pride, but the woman waved her off with that same gentle smile. What was with this place and nurturing grey-haired women anyway?

“Nonsense, nobody should be labeled for what their family does, that’s how stupid feuds start,” Dot assured her, and she looked up at Kara who was smiling back at her but also eyeing the free treat.

“Thank you, you’re too kind,” she eventually and politely gave in mostly because it felt nice to be treated not like a Luthor and she would never ever deny Kara Danvers some extra ice-cream. 

“Question for you?” she asked carefully and gently once Dot had left them, but Danvers already had her mouth full of ice cream which left her only able to nod.

“When you said you whipped him at the County Fair, what did you mean?” she asked since the blonde had told her that she tried to keep her powers hidden in the past.

“I… I was leaving early, like I always do, when I heard somebody shouting no and leave me alone,” her Farmgirl explained as she could see her clenching her hand into a fist so she reached out and covered it with her hand motioning for the brave girl to go on.

“Brackenridge was getting… handsy with one of the Colton sisters and it made me angry… I pulled him off her so she could run, he tried to fight me, called me some not nice things, so I… hit him… maybe a lot,” Kara admitted and she could tell that the blonde felt horrible about what she’d done.

“Hey, look at me Danvers, you did the right thing,” she assured her and in a moment of what had to be madness she picked up the girl’s hand and kissed her knuckles while keeping eye contact the entire time.

“I… thank you… but can I ask you something, like not about the past?” Kara asked and she could sense the hesitation in the blonde’s voice as she put her hand down again while reigning in her now rampant emotions while being grateful for the change in subject.

“Of course, anything you want,” she assured the girl who had defended her honor without a second thought mere moments ago which seemed to be a habit of hers and damn it if it wasn’t making this trip harder already.

“Why would LexCorp be buying farmland in Kansas?” her Farmgirl asked while clearly carefully picking her words and stuck her spoon into the ice-cream as if to make her point.

“I… don’t know, maybe for our agricultural research or it could be for military contracts because there is a lot of missile silos around here,” she had to admit she couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation why nor could she ask Lex or her mother without arousing suspicion.

“Doesn’t seem likely though, right?” the blonde asked while pointing the spoon at her to underline her reasoning and she shook her head. “Okay, promise you won’t be mad about this next thing?” the blonde went on asking and this time she could see the girl’s brilliant mind at work behind now excited blue eyes.

“I promise,” she declared and held her fingers up in the Scouts’ salute to make her point which made her Farmgirl chuckle.

“I found some documents when I was filing and scanning in my Dungeon, but I don’t remember it all because of you know… the fight, but they talked about something called Compound-K and how it was made from a mineral found in Kansas,” the blonde told her while tapping the side of her head where the thick-headed Farmgirl had been struck the other night.

Right away she got worried partly because she knew what Compound-K was, of course, she did, but not in a million years having seen it used behind various clubs in the Slums had she thought that her own family’s company could be behind it.

“No, Lex… he stopped all that kind of work when he took over, he promised me,” she remembered the talk she’d had with her big brother when he’d ousted their father almost ten years ago, granted she’d been twelve but she still understood the gravity of it all.

It had been on a rainy night almost ten years ago - it was always on a rainy night - when she’d heard a shouting match between her father and Lex. With her brother declaring that the deal was already done and that their father should step down gracefully. Of course, it hadn’t been graceful at all, but afterward, Lex had come to her room and promised her that going forward they would do good in the world. A promise to a child, but a promise she’d believed he’d done his best to keep.

“Maybe he doesn’t know, it was a very old box of files, it went back decades,” Kara, always sweet Kara, tried to defend her brother and darn it, focus on the end goal here, Luthor. Friends, you can’t allow yourself to be more than friends with this girl.

“Maybe, but I would like to see those files for myself when we get back to Metropolis,” she conceded and that made the blonde girl smile shyly.

“I’m sure I could pencil you in, Miss Luthor,” Kara teased her with the shy smile turning into a cocky grin.

“Just make sure that Miss Teschmacher is scheduled to arrive after me!” she burst out laughing at the sight of the shifting emotions in her friend’s face and damn it, why did she have to bring up the receptionist, but Kara thankfully ignored that little blunder and soon she was being dragged across Smallville for a look at another landmark near and dear to Kara’s heart. The Goodwill store where the blonde had spent endless days scrounging for parts for her inventions.

* * *

Once they had returned from their little outing in Smallville they fell into their routine that had been established on their first day on the Kent Farm. Danvers found herself taking care of the little problems that had cropped up around the farm that Pa maybe wasn’t in the best shape to deal with while Lena mostly stayed in the farmhouse, helping out Ma Kent, sneaking treats to Sir Wigglesworth and the piglets, or simply sketching ideas on her tablet while sitting on the porch with a happy and content smile on her face. The pale-skinned girl looked at peace here Danvers realized when using her telescopic vision to check on her and a selfish part of her wished that she could keep her here forever. 

But she wasn’t stupid, in fact, she was a genius, though she went to great lengths to hide that fact and wasn’t one to brag. Returning from carrying the tractor Lena had fixed back into the fields by holding it over her head, she looked back at the sun setting over the fields surrounding the farm that she called home. It was home because it was here that she could truly be herself. Be yourself with Lena by your side perhaps, she thought to herself, but she shook her head. But it had been the several tons of tractor pressing down on her that had made it all come into focus. Lena had been putting on a show all day, she knew this deep down inside, but she had allowed herself to be swept up in the girl’s game of play pretend because it clearly made the pale girl very happy. If only for a moment.

Returning to the house she saw that waiting for her on the porch was the beautiful pale-skinned girl with her bright green eyes like at the end of the previous day, this time wearing a pair of comfortable blue jeans and a baggy red sweater. Lena was sitting barefoot on the railing, tablet in hand, glasses on her nose with a frosted beer bottle, and a sandwich waiting for her and she gave an eager wave which the grinning green-eyed girl returned with a small and elegant wave of her hand. Then the fading rays of the sun hit the girl’s pale face and she was dumbstruck, no make-up on, raven-dark hair loose and flowing down the girl’s back and those green eyes reflecting in the orange glow of the fading light. Zor-El, she’s your friend, remember? 

Stepping onto the porch she accepted the offered beer and smiled as she took a sip from it with Lena watching her with one of those unreadable expressions of hers on her face and she felt herself struck dumb again. 

“I wish we could stay longer,” she mumbled for a lack of anything better to say and that made Lena smile one of those honest to Rao smiles the pale girl would sometimes bust out only for her benefit she was realizing.

“It’s very nice here, but we’re needed, well, you are needed back in Metropolis, the Slums won’t protect themselves,” the green-eyed girl agreed and graced her with a look of pride in those luminous emerald-like eyes.

“Got any good ideas for how we’re going to fix our little glowing green rocks problem, I saw you doodling earlier,” she admitted to having checked in on her friend while working in the fields upgrading the irrigation system.

“I’ll need access to a lab, but I think I can come up with some things that could aid you if you still want me to be your partner in this endeavor of yours?” Lena asked with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

“Nobody else I’d rather have by my side,” she blurted out as the sun sank below the horizon and the stars started coming out one by one.

“Then I’m your girl,” Lena declared with a grin sticking out her pale hand for them to seal the deal sort to speak and laughing nervously she shook it. Cool, her skin is always cool and smooth, she observed.

“Perfect,” was all she could say when the handshake dragged on a bit longer and then Lena had to go and give a girlish giggle which she’d never heard from the girl’s lips before. Then they both froze because the eye contact had gone on for a little bit too long like frequently seemed to happen between them.

Green eyes lingered on blue ones, lips quivered, she rubbed the back of Lena’s hand with her rough thumb and her senses exploded to life, their heartbeats were synced, she had goosebumps on her arms and the pale girl’s pupils were dilated. 

After a moment of silence, she found her courage or maybe it was madness as she leaned in and kept her eyes on Lena's lips, but at the last possible second the pale girl turned away and the kiss meant for those soft-looking lips landed on a cool pale cheek. The moment was gone even as she felt her lips against that soft skin and pulled back scratching the back of her neck feeling like a total idiot.

"Kara... we need to go home when this is all over..." Lena stammered and looked out over the starlit fields around the Kent farm desperate to be looking anywhere but at the earnest and honest blonde who defended her no matter what.

"Lee..." she started protesting but she stopped because she knew how fragile the pale girl’s mental state was and something told her not to push it. Smooth move Zor-El, she chastised herself for pushing for something that potentially wasn’t even there.

"You know what, let’s stay out here a little bit longer and you’ll love it when the moon rises, " she conceded and put her arm around Lena's slender shoulders. If this was to be all she’d ever get from Lena, then she’d take it even though it hurt a little bit, no it actually hurt a lot.

"Thank you..." the pale and fragile girl whispered back with her voice shaking and almost breaking.

"Hey, it's… it’s what friends are for, right?" she asked and Rao it hurt to say that, but she had to be strong for Lena. This was her gentle friend's choice and she could live with it. Couldn't she?

Of course, Lena had sensed and seen the kiss coming a mile away since Kara Danvers was about as subtle as a jackhammer, and for a moment she wanted to accept those chapped lips against hers, but then a vision of her mother verbally destroying Emma in the tent they called home together in Africa all those years ago caused her to turn away at the last second and with that one tiny gesture friend-zoning the poor blonde.

"This has been nice," the blonde murmured and squeezed her shoulder as the moon was rising above the fields bathing them and the landscape in a silvery glow.

"It’s been the best and maybe we can come back and..." Lena started speaking but in a rare show of impoliteness Kara cut her off.

"...and play pretend again, sure it's your jet," the tall blonde joked with a smile at the wide-eyed look her pale friend was giving her while shivering in her arms.

"I’ll let you in on a secret, Lee, I'm smarter than I look too," she shrugged as she reminded the pale girl of that fact and kissed the top of her dark and fruity-smelling hair.

"Hold me?" Lena asked instead of giving a snarky reply and with a nod, Kara Danvers held the shivering and pale Lena Luthor for their last night in their personal little haven away from everything that sought to hurt them and keep them apart.

“Anything else I can do?” she asked and felt the petite girl relaxing in her arms, but the reply surprised her in a very pleasant way.

“That… song you were singing before when I cut your hair, can I hear it again?” Lena asked and she’d never been asked to speak in Kryptonian by anybody else before that moment.

“It’s a prayer… actually, but sure,” she explained what she’d been saying before the pale girl had cut her hair the day before which already felt like a lifetime ago.

“In Rao’s light we find peace,” she started saying the prayer softly and she could see that Lena was paying close attention as the pale girl looked up at her with a faint if sad smile on her lips.

“In Rao’s light we are made whole, his flame guides us and strengthens us and in his light we find peace,” she went on slowly and softly while changing the prayer to Rao slightly to include the green-eyed girl in it and for the second time in almost seven years she spoke the language of Krypton in front of another person. 

This felt good, but was it enough? Both girls thought at that exact same moment without realizing it. Soon they’d be back in Metropolis, under the looming threats that faced them there and would have to be strong for each other even though it hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Did you miss me? Because golly gee I missed you guys!
> 
> My little vacation was amazing, while the following quarantine maybe wasn't as amazing.
> 
> Now with them having thoroughly friend-zoned each other while trying to be noble, we head back to Metropolis where...
> 
> Lena Luthor sets about helping Danvers being a hero with some mixed results and tries to cope maybe not in the healthiest of ways!
> 
> Daddy Danvers deals with her frustrations about what happened in Smallville but maybe not in the healthiest of ways! Yes, they are idiots!
> 
> Drama!
> 
> Gay pining!
> 
> Frustration-sex?
> 
> All this and more next time on The Internship!


	13. Status Quos, They Suck!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danvers returns to Metropolis after her weekend with Lena in Smallville as they both struggle with the new status quo in their relationship.
> 
> Having nobly friend-zoned each other, Danvers makes a worrying discovery while Lena goes above and beyond to help her friend, but also takes steps to try to forget about her feelings in true Luthor fashion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter's title is not meant as a slight to the British rock band Status Quo, they rock!

Danvers was angry, no in fact she was royally pissed off as she hurled the empty filing box against the wall of what had become known as her Dungeon in the sub-basement of the LexCorp Tower and cursed loudly in Kryptonian. This was perfect, just freaking perfect! After returning from Smallville having friend-zoned herself with Lena in an effort to protect the green-eyed girl, she’d returned to work to find the files on Compound-K she’d meant to photograph gone and when she’d tried to look them up in the LexCorp database they were now marked as restricted. 

“Freaking fracking fiddlesticks!” she cursed and sat down heavily in front of the computer again. Though she was quite smart and computer savvy, hacking had never been her speed because it simply felt too shady and illegal for her tastes.

Still, if she was going to stick to her morals that meant her only other option left was going to Lena for help, but the pale girl was already helping enough. Having promised to help find a way for her to fight the Intergang members that had injured her the week before and potentially come up with some helpful gadgets to aid her in her vigilantism endeavors as the smooth-spoken girl had called them.

That meant she’d have to find another way and despite being adverse to hacking, she could use her skills to figure out what kind of user-permissions would be required to gain access to the files. As it turned out the access required was quite high-level, she saw as she tapped away at the noisy old keyboard. With a bit more effort she managed to dig down deep enough into the active directory of the LexCorp system’s user list to see that only a handful of people could potentially help her in her quest.

First was Lillian Luthor, but that bitc-mean lady wasn’t a possibility because she was pretty sure that if she ever came face to face with Lena’s mother again she’d either throw her into the sun or say something that would get herself fired on the spot. Though Lillian Luthor’s day of reckoning would come for what she’d done to Lena, that was a promise she made to Rao.

Next on the list was Lex Luthor, Lena’s serviceable big brother as the pale girl had called him, Clark’s old friend that didn’t act like one and the CEO of the entire company, but no, that wouldn’t work either. The bald but admittedly friendly man had already patched her up once and was probably suspicious already if he was anything like Lena when it came to curiosity and brains.

That left only one name on the list, Andrea Rojas, the chief operations officer of LexCorp, but how to get the woman’s help she had no idea as she tapped her fingers against the monitor while chewing on the arm of her glasses. The flickering screen displaying the picture of a woman maybe ten years her senior, with voluminous brown hair, piercing dark eyes, and with lips a very deep shade of red. 

"Andrea Rojas," she repeated the name and it rolled off her tongue easily as she checked the time and it was ten minutes past when Lena had promised to arrive. 

When they’d returned from their trip to Smallville, Lena had been quiet, outright avoiding her on the flight back to Metropolis and not even Kendra, the nice flight attendant, slipping her extra chocolates had managed to lift her spirits. Their few days together in Smallville had all been them playing pretend, she understood that and to a degree had encouraged it. Lena Luthor had been playing at being a normal girl and she’d allowed herself to be swept up in it all, but now back in the bright lights of Metropolis and under the watchful gaze of Lillian Luthor her pale-skinned friend was back to being just that, her friend.

Pulling on her blue blazer over her white tight-fitted business shirt she set about finding out why Lena had stood her up without as much as a text or a call. Checking her constantly beat up looking phone there was nothing new there from the green-eyed girl save for a message from the night before asking if she’d gotten home safely and Rao had she faced a grilling when she’d stepped inside the house.

Both Lois and Clark had been back and waiting for her once she returned to the apartment with her duffle bag over her shoulder and wearing the crumpled black suit with a white t-shirt underneath. Lois had returned from her assignment in Gotham and Clark had gotten back from Sigma-3 where he’d been assisting in the relocation of its population following a black hole passing by the planet’s solar system. Naturally, with both of them being reporters, both of them had questions for her, very many questions and she hadn’t managed to come up with very good answers for most of them.

Clark had asked about how his Ma and Pa were doing and they’d been fine of course and then he’d asked awkwardly about why she’d taken Lena Luthor to Smallville and she’d told him a bit too firmly that Lena was her friend and not to worry and that she didn’t know anything about his secret identity. Though she’d conveniently left out how she’d spoken Kryptonian to calm both herself and the pale girl down on two separate occasions and that it had felt amazing.

Lois had taken a different approach, the violet-eyed woman, her Metropolis Mom had given her one look, brushed her fingers over her newly cut short hair, and then simply hugged her tightly. It was scary how easily Lois Lane could sense her moods at times and after a few basic questions, the reporter had told her that they would talk more over lunch today, which since Lena was standing her up, she’d better get going to or she'd be late.

Sending a message to her friend without giving away what she’d discovered about the missing files and hoping that she wasn’t sounding too needy or entitled to the girl’s time it simply read. Meeting with Lois for lunch, come see me when you can, hope everything is alright. Looking over the message she realized that it was not what she wanted to send, not if she was being honest with herself, but she added a few smileys for good measure and hit the send button with authority.

Adjusting her blazer, fixing her red tie, and smoothing down her jeans, she polished her white high-tops against the back of her leg like she always did and rode the elevator up to the lobby. If Lena was going to be a no-show today, and if the weekend had been all pretend between them, well, then she’d try her best to forget about it all and move on, but she knew that she sucked at doing both of those things. Spotting Miss Teschmacher behind the receptionist desk she strode over and graced the athletic honey-blonde girl with a smile and was rewarded with one return. With Eve, things were simple, and Rao knew she could go for a bit of simple right now.

“Hello again, Miss Teschmacher, my aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she greeted the pretty receptionist and leaned over the counter, looking over the rim of her thick-rimmed glasses while allowing her voice to drop in timbre a tiny bit.

“Well, hello there stranger, how was your trip home?” Eve asked with a knowing smirk and a twinkle to her pale-blue eyes which made her nervously run her hand through her cropped blonde hair.

“It was enlightening,” she carefully picked her words while the pretty receptionist laughed sweetly and stood up in another form-fitting number, this time a dark-grey dress that clung to her athletic frame and she found herself staring.

“You seem to have gotten some sun at least, and I see some style-changes took place… can I touch it, please?” the pale-blue-eyed girl asked and reached out her manicured hand, so her fingers gently brushed against her now short blonde hair.

“Here, are you sure?” she asked trying to fight back the rising panic while thinking that it was stupid since she’d done a lot of things in public with Lena in Smallville and not thought once about it. Yet, somehow being Daddy Danvers again was harder than it was before her trip to Kansas.

“Here… or if you’d like there is an empty office on the tenth floor…” the pretty receptionist whispered while she reminded herself that she was proud of who she was, so she reached out, took Eve’s hand by the wrist, and guided it to her hair.

“Since you asked so nicely, Miss Teschmacher,” she replied cockily, and right away she felt soft fingers run through her thick hair as she instinctively leaned into the touch.

“I like it... it suits you,” Eve murmured while gently withdrawing her hand and she was grateful for the lobby being sparsely populated right then because she felt like she might combust. Simple was fun, she reminded herself, but golly gee she was needier than she’d thought after that weekend with Lena and no chance to relieve her… stress.

“Thank you… Miss Teschmacher, I’m meeting someone for lunch but maybe after work we can have a little walk together?” she offered while looking around for Lois hoping that the reporter had arrived because she was tempted to carry Miss Teschmacher up to that tenth-floor office to relieve the surprising amount of stress she was discovering that she was under.

“Still deadset on dating me, uh Danvers?” the pretty receptionist teased her to which she could only shrug and smile. 

“I want to spend some time with you, if that’s alright, nothing official just could use a friend,” she offered while falling back on that good old earnest behavior that had won her the attention and affections of the honey-blonde girl in the first place.

“Oh, I can’t say no to that, come by my desk around five and we’ll go for a stroll?” Eve suggested with a teasing smile and she knew that dating the pretty receptionist was out of the picture but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get to know her better.

“Perfect, and if you want, we could…” she left the words unspoken but she did reach out and brush her fingertips across the honey-blonde girl’s wrist before gently squeezing it which in turn rewarded her with tiny goosebumps up Eve’s arms.

“Ahem!” someone cleared their throat forcefully behind her and as one they both jumped. Eve sat back down and somehow managed to look composed and very busy in a split second as she turned around and faced the amused visage of Lois Lane with her hands on hips while wearing what she'd dubbed the woman's reporter-suit consisting of black jeans, a white blouse, and a blue jacket, kinda like how she dressed actually.

“Lois! Hi! I was just talking to... you know what, nevermind, you ready for lunch?” she asked and decided that she wasn’t going to turn into a babbling wreck and own what she was doing. Proud, be proud Danvers!

“Of course, that’s why I came, that is to say, unless you’re busy now,” the violet-eyed reporter asked while waving at Eve, who shyly waved back, and she shook her head.

“Nope, just catching up with Miss Teschmacher,” she replied with a shrug and guided her Metropolis Mom out of the lobby in a hurry while making sure she threw a smile and a wave in Eve’s direction to be polite.

“Let me just say this, you’ve come a long way, sunshine,” Lois commented as they walked down the street toward a coffee shop frequented by the suits and dresses crowd that worked in the LexCorp Tower and the offices surrounding it.

“What do you mean?” she asked as she politely held out the chair for the intrepid reporter and then sat down herself while trying to act innocent.

“The clubbing, the statement haircut, the flirting with that pretty girl in the lobby, the suits, flying to Smallville with Lena Luthor…” the investigative reporter listed off a few things with a knowing but accepting smile.

“I… I’m just trying to figure out who I am and what I want,” she admitted and smiled at the waitress that brought their menus over. The waitress smiled back at her and she could see Lois concealing a giggle behind her hand, but it wasn’t like she could turn off this effect she had on random women.

“Is that all, I know Clark and I haven’t been around much lately, but if there is anything we can do… well what I’m trying to say is that you can always come to us if there is anything you need to talk about,” Lois told her softly and she wanted to tell the woman everything. About the Kryptonite dagger, about the Compound-K and the missing documents, about Lena friend-zoning her for her own protection and vice-versa and how it had hurt, but right now she wasn’t ready and they’d stop her, she just knew it!

“I’m good, really, the trip with Lena was great, and Eve… I mean Miss Teschmacher we’re just having fun… you know?” she asked and hid her face behind the menu because talking to Lois about this felt a bit awkward. 

“Having fun, say no more, but full disclosure Ma sent me a few messages about you guys, said that Lena looked like a very nice girl… want to tell me what’s going on there, off the record of course?” the violet-eyed reporter asked and she blushed right away before she remembered the aborted kiss on the porch.

“We’re just friends… I… I tried to kiss her and she turned away… there are too many things in the way I guess, her mom, my whole thing and the timing isn’t right, plus she said that she couldn’t be with me like that,” she admitted to which Lois reached out and grabbed her hand comfortingly.

“Her loss and you don’t seem that broken up about it judging by what I saw in the LexCorp lobby,” Lois assured her and she smiled at the woman while thinking that maybe she should move on and respect Lena’s wishes. Anything to keep the green-eyed genius in her life would be worth it.

“Can we talk about something else than the mess that is my love-life, how was Gotham?” she asked while desperate to change the subject and then her phone vibrated with a message from Lena that read: Working on something, can I see you tonight, my place, preferably not bleeding this time? And she replied with a quick reply of yes both to be polite to Lena and to Lois.

“Bruce gave in eventually, though I had to go through some back channels to get to him and if you ever go to Gotham I met a girl you simply have to meet one day,” Lois laughed and the curiosity got the better of her as she leaned in for the details.

“Tell me more, I could use the distraction,” she chuckled and the fact that Lois had met a girl and thought about her gave her this amazing feeling of acceptance.

“I found out that Bruce Wayne has a cousin, Kate Kane, and now tell me… how do you feel about tattoos?” the reporter joked and then laughed when her eyes went wide at the implication. It was cool that her Metropolis Mom was being this chill about her sexuality but some things she did not need to hear.

“None of your beeswax!” she exclaimed but smiled at Lois as their drinks and snacks arrived and the grinning reporter looked mighty pleased with herself.

“But thank you for thinking about me in that slightly weird Fiddler on the Roof matchmaker way, it means a lot to me,” she added quickly and got very busy eating the slice of cake the red-headed waitress had brought along with a black coffee for Lois with an accompanying doughnut.

“You know… Clark’s been asking about you, maybe you should have a movie night with him?” the violet-eyed reporter suggested diplomatically, and she frowned as she stabbed her cake with her fork a little too hard.

“I already talked to him, but he’s such a farm boy about everything you know,” she grumbled, and yes even though Clark meant well she got the feeling he didn’t quite understand what she was going through. It had been different for him, he was a guy, he was straight and hadn’t had any legacy to live up to when he’d come to Metropolis.

“Kara, please he’s trying but this isn’t easy for him,” Lois pleaded with her and as always, she couldn’t say no, not to Lois when the woman had always been so kind and caring toward her.

“Fine, tomorrow night I’ll hang out with him if he’s not off-planet already by then,” she conceded, which made Lois smile and sip at her dark and strong-smelling cup of coffee in victory.

“That’s all I ask, but he is trying and between us girls... for someone supposedly faster than a speeding bullet he doesn’t adapt to change quickly,” the reporter defended her cousin and for a moment she remembered how Lena had acted in Smallville and damn it, it hurt!

“Are you alright, sunshine? You sure nothing bad happened in Smallville?” Lois asked as she cursed herself for being so transparent with her feelings all the time. 

“No… nothing happened,” she mumbled and technically that was the truth, nothing had happened and now everything in her life was an even bigger mess than before because of it. Stupid noble sacrificing for others and the greater good!

“Hey, it will get better and who knows she might come around,” the violet-eyed reporter assured her, and she smiled at the woman who was always so very kind to her.

“Thank you, but I don’t think so, but I’m going to be there for her no matter what, she needs a friend,” she declared and punctuated her statement by stuffing a huge forkful of the cake into her mouth which made Lois laugh.

The lunch with Lois was pleasant, it felt good to gossip a little bit, talk about work, joke about Clark and she resolved that sooner rather than later she’d tell her Metropolis Mom everything, about the Slums, about Lena and that whole mess, about how she wanted to be a hero and help those who couldn’t fight back against oppression and those who sought to rule through fear. But that was another thing to add to the list of problems for future Danvers.

* * *

Yesterday Lena had felt like she was on top of the world, but today she felt like a total piece of shit as she tried to convince herself that she’d stood her friend up for a good reason while she used the access card on her phone to enter the Research and Development labs on the thirteenth floor of the LexCorp Tower. The access card she’d cloned from Lex a few weeks prior just in case, but that didn’t’ matter right now. Now, this floor and its labs weren’t listed on any of the holographic elevator panels in the building though and if you looked at the blueprints, you’d find nothing, but they were there. Luthors always had secrets after all.

Having thrown on a white lab-coat over her slinky green dress to try to blend in a little bit, just in case, she was carrying her tablet with her and on it, she had the designs ready. The designs were for a suit for Kara that would protect the blonde during her reckless vigilantism crusade in the Slums. Though having designs was all well and good, to make them a reality she needed access to the industrial-scale 3D-printer located in one of the labs her brother had squirreled away. 

Fuck, she wished and not for the first time, that she could be back in Smallville cooking for Kara with Ma Kent’s help and then cuddling with the Farmgirl on the porch watching the stars come out, but that was the past and like she’d explained to the nice flight attendant, Kendra, on the flight back when she’d been busted tugging the blonde in, this was for the best.

Stepping into the sterile lab that was empty because she wasn’t stupid and had arranged for the lab-workers to have a team-building exercise today, off-site. Granted, it was stretching the powers of her position as Internship Project Manager, but she was good at bending rules to her benefit when the situation called for it. Like you bent Kara Danvers into playing pretend with you last weekend and then friend-zoned her when she tried to kiss you? The annoying voice of her conscience asked her, and she pushed back against it like she always did, but ever since becoming friends with her Farmgirl she’d not had as much luck as before with ignoring it.

Inside the glass cylinder that housed the 3D-printer, its mechanism whirred to life as she connected her tablet to the lab’s systems with a few taps of her fingers and made the final adjustments. The design for Kara’s new battlesuit was midnight black, with a high collar while being offset by blue piping on the arms and the legs, and heavy boots and gauntlets completed the main body of the suit. Wanting to keep her friend’s identity safe, she’d added a blue mask with white retractable lenses to her design, and after finding out that Kara was Kryptonian she’d included the shape of the shield Superman wore on his chest in dark blue to the breast of the suit. Though she didn’t know if they were even related, she’d not wanted to pry and wanted to allow her Farmgirl to tell her in her own time, but the space on the suit’s chest could nonetheless be filled in later.

“I hope she’ll like it,” she whispered to herself as she checked the last-minute additions to the design that she’d come up with during her sleepless flight back from Kansas.

Putting on her glasses, mostly because her eyes hurt from lack of sleep, she fed the recipe for the material needed for the suit’s construction into the lab’s systems and hoped her math had been right. It was her own recipe for a poly-fiber Kevlar with limited self-healing capabilities, bulletproof against up to 50-caliber rounds, and stab and cut resistant, but breathable to accommodate for the fighting she knew that Kara was bound to get caught up in. Fighting, the thought of her Farmgirl fighting terrified her, but it also meant that she needed to figure out how to protect the blonde from the Kryptonite that Intergang had in its possession. Thankfully on that front, after last night’s sleepless night, she was already halfway there with a formula for a serum to protect her girl. A part of her knew she was being obsessive, but it was worth it! Because she was now dedicated to protecting Kara Danvers at all costs and for once in her life, she was going to do something good and worthwhile with her stupid brain.

The 3D-printer started printing out the black battlesuit layer by layer and if she’d timed this right it would be done in an hour and she’d be able to present it to Kara tonight. When her phone vibrated, she panicked but she didn’t reply to the message right away. Instead, she further behaved like the scared jealous little girl she sometimes felt like and accessed the security cameras in the building, just to check in on the blonde, but what she saw in the lobby made her grip her tablet tightly.

That too pretty for her own good receptionist was flirting with her Farmgirl! Though technically Danvers was doing a fair bit of the flirting too from what she could see when she zoomed in and when the bitch ran her fingers through her Farmgirl’s short blonde hair, she forced herself to tear her eyes away from the screen. You did this to yourself Luthor, remember that, she reminded herself, and while the suit was being spun into reality by the borrowed technology of her brother’s design she opened up a hidden app on her tablet that she’d not used for a while. Before she could do that, however, her phone rang and it was Sam, damn it, she couldn’t ignore the call because what if it was about Ruby or an emergency, so closing the hidden app for the moment she answered the call. 

“Hey,” she whispered as she looked around the empty lab and in a moment of doubt wondered if she’d made sure everyone that worked there was really away today on that team-building exercise.

“Hey to you too, here I thought you’d vanished again,” Sam’s slightly amused if a bit disapproving voice came over the line as she frowned, she really could be the suckiest of friends.

“No, just been… caught up since I got back from Kansas,” she admitted and checked on the progress of the battlesuit being built while trying to will the 3D-Printer to go faster.

“Oh? How did it go with the Danvers girl?” her friend asked which gave her pause because it had gone well right up until she’d been a freaking idiot. 

Tell the truth, or lie, tell the truth or lie, she thought to herself while chewing on her fingernail before settling with a rare display of truthfulness. Sam deserved the truth, because if the trip to Smallville had taught her anything it was that she should try to be a better friend to the very few people who put up with her bullshit.

“It went well right up until she tried to kiss me,” she sighed in her admission as she double-checked the wing design for the suit one last time.

“Lee! Tried to kiss? Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” Sam asked loudly before getting her voice under control, but it still hurt her ear a little bit.

“You know I can’t do that! Not with someone mother would disapprove of wholeheartedly, Kara, she’s got a bright future Sam and I won’t ruin it!” she replied firmly and it was true, she would fight tooth and nail for Kara Danvers to live out her dreams even if it meant she couldn’t get to live hers.

“Well, at least she doesn’t think we’re dating anymore,” her friend laughed, though after seeing Kara flirting with that receptionist on the security camera she kinda wished that her Farmgirl was still jealous, even just a little bit.

“Lee, are you sure you’re alright?” Sam asked when she didn’t respond after a few seconds because she couldn’t get the image of Kara flirting with that receptionist out of her head now and that couldn’t be allowed to go on.

“I’ll be fine, hey I got to go, say hi to Ruby for me and let’s go out for pizza this week, alright?” she asked wanting to change the subject from Kara Danvers and what a fucking disaster, as usual, her life was.

“Maybe... you could invite Danvers, I’m sure Ruby would love to meet her, everything you’ve told me about it sounds likes she’s a sweet girl and I’m curious who has got you in such a state,” her friend conceded to the subject change, but proving herself an expert negotiator which made sense given her position within LexCorp.

“I’ll ask her,” she promised because a part of her was dying to see Danvers interact with Ruby and maybe they could play pretend again. If only for an hour or two.

“Sounds good, I’ll let you go now, but don’t be a stranger, we worry about you,” Sam said softly and that only made her feel not only like a total piece of shit but also like the world’s biggest loser.

“I… thank you,” she managed to say before hanging up and after debating with herself for a moment she opened up the app again that she’d closed in a panic before.

What she was about to do wasn’t something she was proud of, but it was the safest method she could come up with to take the edge off and put her Farmgirl out of her mind as anything else than a friend, if only for a short while. Now, since Kara heavily if quietly disapproved of her drinking and she knew that, it meant going out clubbing was out of the question, nobody at LexCorp would go near her aside from Danvers and that left her with, in her mind, only one option to take the edge off, aside from her own fingers, and that was to order an escort. 

Browsing the pictures of the girls offering their services on the app she found a girl that would fit her needs. Young, tall, blonde, athletic while not as muscular as Kara, but with similar blue eyes and shamefully she checked on the non-disclosure agreements before messaging the girl whose name she didn’t need to know, all that mattered, was a time, a place and an agreed-upon amount paid in cash. 

When she’d set up the ‘meeting’ for later with the blonde escort, she texted Kara asking if they could meet before the noble blonde went out to play the hero. Yet, seeing the profile picture of the smiling goofy girl next to her messages to Danvers on her phone made her smile and playing pretend again she typed out her message about how she’d prefer the blonde to visit her apartment not bleeding and hit send. Here she was, Lena Luthor, pretend girlfriend, shitty friend, horny loser and yep that sounded just about right, she decided and shrugged.

* * *

Returning to the LexCorp Tower after her lunch with Lois, Danvers still debated with herself how to get access to the Compound-K data. Only three people in the entire company had access to it and two of them she couldn’t ask outright without potentially revealing to the people behind the drug that she knew about it or in the case of Lillian Luthor making her so angry that she'd burn a hole through the woman’s skull for what she’d done to Lena. That left LexCorp’s chief operations officer, Andrea Rojas, and maybe she had an in there, but that meant she would have to call in a favor.

Fishing around in her pockets she found the now slightly crumpled business card Lex Luthor had given her that day she’d bowled him over in the lobby of the building. After which, he’d told her if there was anything he could do, all she had to do was ask and she hoped that offer still stood even after she’d bled on his carpet. Also, maybe it might be time for her to graduate from the data entry dungeon and she had the perfect executive in mind that might need an intern, she decided and punched the number into her phone.

“This is Luthor,” Mister Luthor’s deep voice rang in her ear when Lena’s brother picked up on the third ring and she swallowed hard before speaking.

“Mister Luthor, sir, it’s Danvers, we met the other day I’m a friend of your sister and I might have tackled you in the lobby,” she blurted out as she failed to contain her nerves and the man chuckled as she left out the fact she’d also been dragged beaten and bloodied to his penthouse to get her wounds patched up by a distraught Lena. 

“Danvers, I recognized the voice, how was your trip to Smallville?” he asked, and of course, he’d known since Lena had taken the family jet and that was bound to be noticed.

“It… it was good, I’m actually calling to ask about a favor,” she stammered and pinched the bridge of her nose while reminding herself that she could do this.

“Of course, has the sub-basement worn out its welcome then?” he asked with a laugh and what was with these Luthors and being able to read her like an open book.

“Yes sir, I was thinking that operations might be an interesting avenue to explore,” she lied through her teeth because she really needed access to those documents again and that meant going through Andrea Rojas.

“Sounds like you’ve given this some thought, what do you have in mind?” he quizzed her, and she had to think fast because the truth be told she was flying by the seat of her pants here.

“I was wondering if I could be transferred to Andrea Rojas, for a few weeks, to see how things are done?” she asked and chewed on her lower lip as she waited for his answer.

“Are you sure, Andrea is a hard taskmaster, in fact, her last intern recently fled back to the Hamptons for the summer, poor girl,” Lex laughed and that did make her worry, but she could deal with one difficult woman.

“I’m sure, sir, can it be arranged?” she asked keeping her voice steady while hoping she wasn’t sounding rude or impolite and also that this wouldn’t upset Lena.

“I’ll have my assistant set it up, she’ll email you further instructions for where you are to report to tomorrow,” he replied firmly, and she could hear him tapping on his keyboard.

“Thank you, sir,” she declared and did a small fist-pump in celebration at having pulled this off while doing a little jig with her feet in her own version of a victory dance.

“Think nothing of it, Danvers, how is my sister by the way?” he asked but didn’t give her a chance to respond. “I ask because she seems to be going through one of her silent phases,” he then added and there was a tone to his voice that she couldn’t place, but at least Lena was being distant with not only her but also with her brother too or so it would seem.

“I think she’s tired from the flight, but she liked Smallville and I think it helped her relax for a few days,” she blurted out because she was very happy with how their trip had played out despite how it had ended and maybe Mister Luthor had some insights into Lena’s mindset that could help her better understand her complicated friend.

“Smallville is an interesting town. I know that from past experience and I’m sure Lena found ample opportunity to tire herself out,” he chuckled while again being cryptic as she again wondered what the heck was up with Lex Luthor’s past involving the town and why Clark never talked about it. Maybe a movie night wasn’t the worst idea after all. 

“Sir, can I ask one more favor?” she asked hoping against hope that she wasn’t overstepping some boundary with Lena’s brother, but he seemed nice if a bit hard to read.

“Is this perhaps in relation to my sister’s use of the LexCorp jet to visit the family farm?” he asked slyly and darn it she would have to be more careful around this man in the future. Though she didn’t sense any malice from him, he was definitely like Lena, too smart for his own good.

“Yes, sir, I was hoping you would maybe keep that fact to yourself, we don’t need rumors to start,” she tried to diplomatically ask him not to tell anyone that Lena had in fact flown them to Smallville, mostly she hoped to keep the information from finding its way to Lillian Luthor’s ears. It was the least she could do for the green-eyed genius of a girl that despite her epic flameout with the kiss she still wanted to protect. 

“Tell you what, you don’t tell anyone, and I mean anyone, how you got transferred to Andrea Rojas’ staff and in return for that I’ll do my best to keep the details of your trip to Smallville under wraps,” he offered and she sensed that there was a catch to this offer because as Lena always said, Luthors had plots and plans for days.

“Deal,” she agreed despite her reservations, not for her own sake, but for Lena’s sake and with the hope that this way she could keep her friend out of trouble with her clearly dysfunctional family.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Danvers, and if you meet my sister tell her not to be a stranger,” he asked her with his tone friendly and she could hear the grin in his voice. It was clear that the man loved making deals.

“I’ll do that, sir, and thank you again,” she exclaimed and for some reason stood at attention even though she was just talking on the phone.

“Word of advice, step carefully around Andrea,” he offered before hanging up and that left her staring at her phone before shaking her head.

The Luthors were a weird clan, Lena, brilliant, broken and out of reach, Lex, a genius but clearly also devious and manipulative, and finally, Lillian, whose name alone made her clench her fist as she remembered Lena crying in her arms. Right then she decided that she would need to visit the Slums tonight, the danger of Kryptonite daggers be damned because someone needed their ass kicked and soon!

* * *

Checking her phone one more time Lena wondered if Kara had returned the favor and stood her up, but a low thud from her fire escape alerted her to the blonde girl’s arrival. Pulling the floor to ceiling window open she saw her Farmgirl smiling at her, dressed in a tight red t-shirt that brought back memories of the girl’s dip in the river in Smallville, so perky, and black jeans, with her glasses off and scuffed sneakers on her feet. It was a warm night and it all of a sudden felt much warmer when she was graced by the sight of Kara’s exposed arms and brilliant smile.

“Hi,” she whispered, and this was really the first time they’d met since saying goodbye on the tarmac at the airport after their return from Smallville.

“Hey, you alright?” the blonde asked her, and she became keenly aware of the lingerie she wore underneath her ripped jeans and comfortable sweater to be ready for her ‘date’ with the escort later.

“I’m fine, come in, I’ve got something for you,” she waved the tall blonde into her apartment and she could see Kara looking around with wide blue eyes. A part of her felt proud that the tall blonde was impressed with her home.

“Thank you, I don’t remember it much from last time,” Danvers laughed sheepishly and how her Farmgirl could shrug of being nearly fatally injured made her angry, shocked, and worried all at once.

“Well, you were kinda passed out and again try to avoid that in the future?” she asked while trying to be friendly, just friendly, with the adorable lug in her life.

“Yes ma’am,” the adorable blonde lug in question saluted crisply and she shook her head as she guided the girl into the spare bedroom that she’d converted into a makeshift lab over the past two nights. Since, thankfully, you could order all sorts of electronics, beakers, burners, chemicals, tools, and materials online with no questions asked and sitting in a lead-lined glass tube was the piece of kryptonite she’d saved after pulling it from Kara’s leg.

“Oh, wow, you don’t do anything by half-measures do you, Lee?” Danvers declared sounding very impressed as the blonde poked around the makeshift lab. It was true, the only thing she did by half-measures was friend-zoning wonderful girls who deserved better.

“Oh, stop it, go put this on before I blush,” she grumbled and handed the blonde a black sports bra and a pair of tight black shorts. Again it was amazing what you could get delivered on a day's notice if you were willing to pay top dollar.

“When you said you had something for me, I was expecting something less skimpy,” Danvers deadpanned but accepted the clothes being handed to her with that damn cocky grin she'd seen her flash that too pretty receptionist before.

“They’re to make sure that you’re comfortable in the battlesuit I made for you, but now go change while I get it ready for you,” she laughed and hoped, really hoped, that the tall blonde wouldn’t ask how she’d gotten her measurements. Staring, lots of staring, and discreet scanning with a laser using her tablet. 

“Battlesuit! Can’t wait!” her Farmgirl declared and vanished into the next room leaving her to unzip the garment bag that held the suit she’d created in the secret labs of LexCorp earlier and then smuggled out of there.

Double checking that the white lenses in the mask worked and that the nanostatic adhesive would stick by putting it on her own face and looking in the mirror she’d not moved out of the room. Lena Luthor, superhero, she chuckled at her own reflection and then saw Kara emerging from the other room behind her as her mouth went painfully dry.

“Cool mask,” the blonde declared as she stood there in only a pair of black and very tight shorts and a matching sports bra hugging the girl's small perky breasts. Fuck, she thought when her brain rebooted, there Danvers was right in front of her eyes, with every single fiber of muscle on display underneath her tan skin, the V-shape of those unearthly abdominal muscles tapering into the waistband of the painted-on shorts as she moved with the grace of a panther and she wanted to fall to her knees and worship the alien god standing before her.

“It’s yours, and so is this,” she declared once she found her voice instead of praying at the altar of Zor-El after recovering while peeling the mask from her face and presenting Kara Danvers with her very own battlesuit, or was it a super-suit?

“Lee...” Danvers’ rumbling voice caught in the back of her throat as the powerful blonde ran calloused fingertips over the midnight black material that glistened like tiny scales and she couldn’t resist grinning like an idiot.

“Poly-fiber Kevlar, bulletproof, breathable and in stylish midnight black and blue with a spot for your crest… someday,” she explained and watched her Farmgirl touch the empty shield on the breastplate of the suit with wide blue eyes.

“It’s flat,” the blonde murmured as she started pulling the suit on over her chest, mercifully hiding the corded muscles from view, and giving her a much-needed reprieve. Being nothing more than Kara Danvers’ friend was going to be harder than she’d planned on. A lot harder!

“Of course, the front forms a protective breastplate, but it wouldn’t be much use if I had put boob-socks on it now would it,” she laughed and watched the blonde zip up the suit. Fuck, she looked like a hero and she guessed that made her the sidekick or at least the gadget girl.

“I like the boots, bulky,” the barefoot blonde murmured with a shy smile as she pulled on the heavy black boots that she’d crafted to go with the suit. 

“They’ve got internal dampeners in the soles, should make your landings a bit smoother and they’re steel-toed in case you need to kick something extra hard,” she explained and watched Kara zip up the sides of the boots before buckling them across her calves.

“You thought of everything,” her Farmgirl declared brightly while fixing the high collar on the suit that clung to the blonde’s elegant neck and she handed her the mask she’d been testing out.

“Can… can you put it on for me?” Danvers asked shyly and damn it the tall blonde wasn’t making this being only friend things they’d sort of agreed-upon while on the Kent Farm easy.

“Bend down a little then, you’re all kinds of tall if you haven’t noticed,” she teased the blonde just like old times and with Danvers squatting down she applied the mask to her face while tucking a bit of that thick blonde hair behind the Farmgirl’s ear.

“What.... what if I want to use my heat vision?” the blonde asked now that those beautiful blue eyes were hidden behind white lenses.

“There is a small button on the side of the mask, or you can press the right palm of the gauntlet once it’s on, but if there is an emergency they react to the heat generated by your optic blasts and retract,” she explained and handed her Farmgirl the gauntlets to complete the suit. Because damn it, she was hers no matter what some flirty receptionist thought.

“You thought of everything!” Danvers exclaimed again and she found herself being hugged tightly as she patted the blonde’s back awkwardly while holding the gauntlets. 

“There is one more thing, well two, here put the gauntlets on,” she urged the blonde to end the hug because she couldn’t handle the close proximity right now.

“Yes, oh and I found a name, like a superhero name,” the blonde excitedly declared while she pulled the heavy gauntlets on and flexed her fingers after strapping them on.

“Oh? And press the left palm, there is another surprise,” she laughed and watched Kara jump and yelp in surprise as blue wings popped out underneath her arms. 

“Glider wings, to help with flight stability when you do those jumps of yours or when you want to fly. They’ll make it easier to bank and turn and then you press the left palm twice and they’ll retract,” she explained like it was an obvious thing for her to have done and not as if she’d maybe studied hours of Superman footage during the design of the wings.

“Lee… this is too much,” Danvers mumbled and looked down at her hands, the midnight black suit giving the girl a flat looking chest, but showing how strong she was as the blue piping went down her arms and legs highlighting her musculature. 

“Nonsense, Danvers, I said I’d help you and I’ve got a few more things in store for you,” she declared and damn it she was going to keep this wonderful girl safe no matter what.

“Zor-El,” the blonde whispered, and she stopped dead in her tracks almost knocking a few beakers off her workbench. Why did she have to tell her that? Because she didn’t need to know more secrets about the blonde, it only complicated things further.

“Excuse me?” she asked and picked up a vial of faintly glowing green liquid hoping that her eyes weren't wide as saucers at this latest revelation.

“My name is Kara Zor-El, or just Zor-El really,” the girl she’d always thought of as Kara or Danvers answered her and the blonde’s voice had done that thing again where it dropped in timbre again thus making her shiver. 

“I… why are you telling me this?” she asked and turned around with her eyes meeting the white lenses of the mask she’d designed as she noticed that after her declaration her Farmgirl stood taller somehow with the midnight black suit hugging her body and glimmering in the rooms bright lights.

“Because you’re my friend and I trust you,” Zor-El answered while being her earnest self after a brief pause as she tapped the side of her mask to retract the white lenses. Unable to stop herself from staring because there were those blue eyes, earnest, honest, caring and damn it, knock it off Luthor!

“I… I trust you too,” she replied with it being her turn to have her voice catching in her throat and handed the vial to the blonde who looked at it while narrowing her eyes.

“What is this, I see some kind of aerated synthetic material mixed in distilled water and watermelon flavoring,” the blonde declared while clearly using her enhanced vision to analyze the contents of the vial and it was becoming increasingly clear that the girl was smart, maybe as smart as herself. 

“If you encounter that blade again, drink this, it should protect you from the effect the kryptonite has on your cells for long enough for you to either destroy it or get away from it,” she explained and tucked the vial carefully into a compartment on the blonde’s gauntlet.

“Long enough?” Zor-El asked while sounding a bit dubious, but there was a teasing smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, and she gave the blonde a smile.

“Look, it will work, I’ve run simulations based on data collected from Superman’s encounters with the stuff that yes I stole from the MCPD’s databases and if it doesn’t work then you tap this twice, it will call me, hide and I’ll come and get you,” she stated and handed the tall blonde hero an ear-piece that was linked directly to her phone and could be activated in an emergency. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it meant that Kara wouldn’t have to drag herself back here if a fight didn’t go her way.

“Lee, I trust you,” the blonde simply replied to her little rant and she felt like there was a lead weight in her stomach. Kara Zor-El, trusted her, was wearing a battlesuit she’d built albeit using borrowed and stolen tech, and it almost made her cancel her appointment for later that evening.

“So, tell me about this name you have chosen for yourself?” she asked before the self-loathing set in and that made her Farmgirl smile.

“Okay! It’s based on an old story from Krypton, I don’t know if it’s a myth or not, but I felt like it worked for me… well, and for us too really,” the blonde explained and why did she have to use the word us. There was no them, they were friends, nothing more.

“Go on,” she urged her friend while finding herself smiling despite her internal conflict and there was such brightness about Kara Zor-El that no matter what she always got caught up in it which in turn warmed that empty space in her heart.

“There was a hero on Krypton, centuries ago, long before I was born,” Kara Zor-El started telling the story and she found herself getting lost in the girl’s voice as it carried with it a longing for a lost world.

“He… he was cast out of his family, an outlier, a rebel, a bit like you and me,” the blonde went on while reaching out to take her hand and she allowed it to happen.

“But he dreamt of justice! Of helping the weak!” her Farmgirl’s voice grew excited and she found herself smiling while she squeezed Kara’s gauntleted hand encouraging her to go on.

“Go on, don’t stop,” she whispered and was rewarded by a beaming smile from Kara Zor-El, the Last Daughter of… no, the Last Scion of Krypton!

“He dreamt of showing his family that he was better than they gave him credit for,” the brightly smiling blonde declared and gazed into her eyes with those sapphire blue eyes peering through the slits in the mask she’d crafted. Gulping she nodded her head as she realized to her horror that the blonde was doing this for them.

“So… he used his talents like we’re using our talents to fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves!” the amazing girl standing in front of her in the midnight-black battlesuit, tall, strong and noble declared.

“What… what was his name?” she asked while stumbling over her words, glancing down at the black gauntlet gently holding onto her pale hand.

“His true name was lost to history, but those he helped called him… Nightwing!” Kara exclaimed with a bright smile and she couldn’t help but gaze in stunned silence at this amazing girl while taking in all of what she’d just said.

Nightwing, the name had been chosen to represent them both striking out on their own against their families' wishes and expectations of them. Damn it! When choosing her superhero name Kara Danvers, no, Kara Zor-El had been thinking of her, and fuck, this wasn’t the plan. Honestly, she’d expected something like Power Girl, Supergirl, Shadow Lass, but no her blonde alien Farmgirl had chosen to embrace her history, her heritage, embrace their joint journey and fuck she was screwed as she reminded herself that they could be nothing more than friends.

“Well, Nightwing, my skylight awaits you for take-off,” she laughed instead of all the other things she should have said as she pressed a remote and the skylight above them slit open. All she knew is that she would protect this amazing being no matter how much it hurt, no matter how much she would be missing out on and that would have to be enough.

With a firm nod Nightwing let go of her hand, activated the white lenses on the blue mask covering her regal and handsome face and with a salute crouched down, flashed her a roguish grin and then launched herself to the sky with a crack similar to thunder. After the gust of wind blew back her hair and forced her to close her eyes and she opened her them, and unable to resist, she rushed out onto the fire escape to watch her hero vanish over the nearby buildings in the direction of the Slums.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! It's 13 chapters in and I can finally say hello to Kara "Nightwing" Zor-El! 
> 
> Now, decided that I'd borrow the Nightwing persona for this story very early on in this story and I'm so glad I could finally reveal it! Also, it was one of my favorite comic books growing up :) 
> 
> Next time on The Internship!
> 
> Danvers returns to the Slums as Nightwing!
> 
> Lena Luthor what are you doing? No!
> 
> Everyone's favorite Spicy Latinx Police Officer returns!
> 
> Who is LexCorp COO Andrea Rojas and what price must Danvers pay for those files?
> 
> All this and more! Because up next it's Good Girls, Bad Decisions!


	14. Good Girls, Bad Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danvers has her first patrol in the Slums as Nightwing as she runs into Officer Maggie Sawyer at Pat's Diner, meanwhile, Lena struggles with her decisions but a phone call from her mother pushes her over the edge.

Landing outside Pat’s Diner with nary a sound as the suit’s boots dampened the force from the impact of her landing, Danvers smiled to herself. The midnight-black battlesuit felt amazing, like a second skin really, perfectly crafted and she felt lucky having Lena in her life, no matter in what capacity. As an added bonus the heavy boots actually softened her footsteps when she walked which was great for being sneaky if the situation called for it. Also, the bulky gauntlets had various compartments in them, though aside from the vial of emergency Kryptonite antidote, they were still empty, and most of all she loved how the battlesuit gave her a sleek and trim figure making her feel like herself while wearing it.

All those feelings and more made her resolve to do something nice for Lena at the first possible opportunity while she performed a quick scan of her surroundings with her senses if only to be safe, but thankfully she found no Intergang or trouble within earshot or telescopic vision range.

What she did notice was a sleek red and black motorcycle that was parked outside the diner that made her wonder if Pat actually had a customer for once. Pushing the door to the diner open which caused the bell above it to jingle merrily she looked around as she stepped inside carefully. Almost pulling off her mask because it felt like the polite thing to do, but she stopped right away when she saw a familiar figure leaning over the counter chatting with Pat. 

It was Officer Sawyer, and crud buckets, she hadn’t planned on seeing the pretty police officer tonight, and after a very sweet but uneventful walk with Eve earlier and then sharing another moment with Lena her mind wasn’t in the best of places to deal with the smart-mouthed Latinx. Who, admittedly, had a great butt in those jeans that she was wearing instead of her standard-issue Metropolis Police Department uniform pants.

“Can I help you miss?” Pat asked a bit gruffly with one hand under the counter no doubt fiddling with his Daxamite plasma-pistol when he noticed her and gave her a slightly suspicious look. In return, she flashed him a smile because she didn’t fault him for being wary since she looked very different now what with her freshly cropped short hair and superhero getup. 

“Hi Pat, are you going to tell me that you don’t recognize your best customer?” she asked and pretended to fix an imaginary ball cap onto her head because the last time she’d been here she’d been in street clothes, with her long hair, baseball cap and no clue about what she was doing. Though that last part was still partly true.

“Krypton girl?” the diner’s owner asked, and she nodded before being swept up in a bone-crushing hug by the grey-haired man. The elderly diner owner could move fast when the mood struck him it would seem.

“You had me worried! I heard some Intergang idiots bragging that they’d iced you and then you vanish from the face of the planet! Don't do that to an old man with a weak ticker,” Pat admonished her and put her down while checking her over while fussing like a mother-hen muttering about the material of her suit. 

“Sorry, but I had to take a few days to heal up and couldn’t risk coming back to the Slums without some upgrades,” she muttered feeling bad about the fact that she’d not been able to let the diner’s kindly owner know that she was alright before she was whisked away to Smallville by Lena, but after all, it wasn’t like she had his number or anything and she doubted he used social media.

“Well, I’m glad you’re still in one piece and that’s a very snazzy battlesuit you got there,” he exclaimed with a huff and slapped her on the shoulder once he was satisfied with her being fit for duty, sort to speak, but she only smiled back at the gruff but lovable man.

“Thank you, a good friend made it for me... so got any leads for me?” she asked and deactivated the lenses in her mask because she didn’t feel comfortable hiding from people she trusted.

“Maybe, but first let me whip you up some pancakes and don’t worry Mags here doesn’t bite, you’ve met right? Mags don’t be rude, say hello,” he laughed before going back to fussing over her and stepped behind the counter pulling on his apron as she eyed the stool next to the Latinx officer who was leaning back against the counter while debating if she should risk it.

“Hey Skulky,” Officer Sawyer saluted at her with a grin and damn it she’d really not expected the pretty Latinx, in street clothes no less, to be here tonight with her emotions all jumbled up like this.

“Officer Sawyer it’s good to see you again,” she nodded politely to the brown-eyed police officer. Noticing, without wanting to, that the Latinx wore her wavy hair down and wore a well-worn leather jacket over a burgundy red shirt.

“I’m glad you’re in one piece, but I won’t lie blondie, I was hoping that I wouldn’t see you again,” the Officer somberly commented and grabbed her to-go coffee cup while clearly getting ready to leave.

“Mags, don’t be rude, she’s here to help,” Pat huffed again for the police officer to behave as she heard the pancake batter sizzling as it hit the hotplate behind the counter and to her surprise the stubborn woman obeyed.

“Fine! You got a name to go with that new fancy suit blondie?” the Latinx girl asked in a huff with a raised eyebrow while clearly having respect for the diner’s owner and she smirked. 

Deciding that she wasn’t going to be intimidated by this petite woman despite how good she looked in a leather jacket and jeans she cleared her throat and pulled herself up to her full height with a grin.

“Nightwing,” she declared with the timber of her voice dropping low and crossed her arms over her chest while squaring her shoulders, but Officer Sawyer looked thoroughly unimpressed as she felt those smoldering brown eyes running up and down her body which felt kinda nice. Calm down Zor-El, this is not the time for having fun, she reminded herself. 

“Hmm, sounds like something a Gotham nutjob would call themselves, but whatever floats your boat,” Officer Sawyer commented off-handedly, and she narrowed her eyes at the woman, clearly, it was time to show her that she meant business.

“First of all rude, but I came back, didn’t I?” she almost growled at being called names, but her statement seemed to somewhat ease the hostility radiating from the Latinx girl who spoke again after a brief staredown and there were those probing brown eyes again. Rao be damned they were pretty!

“You did... which is more than can be said for most,” the Latinx conceded with a nod and she took that as an invitation to slide onto the stool next to the girl while resting her arms on the counter.

“You seem to stick around too… how have things been while I was gone?” she asked with a friendly smile and she couldn’t resist a glance and sniff at the pancakes Pat was cooking up for her on the hotplate.

“Quiet actually, when they didn’t find your body I spread the rumor that when it comes to superheroes, well, if you don’t have a body it means that said hero is still alive and probably very pissed off,” Officer Sawyer laughed and she couldn’t help but to grin at that. The officer was clever, and she liked that, but she also realized something. 

“Hold on, you helped me?” she laughed and pointed first at herself and then at the now frowning officer who swatted her finger away. 

“Don’t let it get to your head blondie, and I helped this neighborhood, not you,” the Latinx corrected her only for them to be interrupted by a stack of pancakes arriving and Pat clearing his throat to try to ease the tension of their latest little stand-off. 

“Well, I want to help protect it too,” she stated firmly and picked up the fork next to the stack of syrup covered pancakes while getting ready to dig in with her usual gusto.

“By eating pancakes?” Officer Sawyer asked with a chuckle and mostly to be annoying she stuffed a forkful of said pancakes into her mouth and chewed while nodding her head.

“Mags, stop giving her a hard time and tell her about the thing already,” Pat grunted and jerked his head toward her while giving her a not so discreet thumbs up at the same time.

“She’s a vigilante Pat,” the Latinx protested but the diner’s owner gave the girl a firm look and tapped his nose conspiratorially.

“And you’re here off-duty Mags, now tell her about the thing,” he grumbled which admittedly took some air out of the girl’s sails, but she tried not to be too gleeful about it.

“What thing, I want to do the thing,” she declared cheerfully, and despite trying to be a serious hero she couldn’t quite pull it off, not when it meant teasing the often very serious-minded yet apparently off-duty officer. Guess that explains the tight jeans and the leather jacket and knock it off Zor-El!

“There is a meeting going down tonight, Intergang has something big planned and I’ve got a stakeout all good to go,” off-duty officer Sawyers explained and she wondered what something big planned meant, but it couldn’t be anything good at least.

“Sounds good, but why would you need me?” she asked after swallowing a mouthful of pancakes with a bit of syrup dripping out of the corner of her mouth.

“Well… both as a back-up in case things get explodey and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m guessing you hear things very well?” the off-duty officer asked and she nodded in between forkfuls of pancakes while tapping her ear.

“And since Pat called you Krypton Girl, I’m guessing you have telescopic and X-ray vision or something to that effect too?” the officer quizzed her and handed her a napkin while gesturing at the corner of her mouth.

“Yes ma’am,” she declared after swallowing and wiping her face clean of the spilled syrup with a grin. It felt nice to be out and open about her heritage like this. 

“Alright, then I could use your help, but if we do this we do it my way and hopefully you won’t have to beat anyone up or you know explode,” the officer declared and actually sat down on the stool next to her with a slight grin while sipping her coffee.

“Awww, but yes ma’am!” she mockingly bemoaned the fact that she wouldn’t get to test out her new suit but she decided that spending time with the cute and off-duty Latinx police officer wasn’t a bad thing, and maybe it would help her get her mind off the mess that was her life and Lena at least.

“You... you just behave, and please call me Maggie, I’m off-duty” Maggie laughed at seeing the goofiness come out in her like this and maybe this Latinx cop wasn’t so bad after all.

“Maggie it is,” she nodded and polished off her plate of pancakes before realizing that she didn’t have any money in this battlesuit as she patted it down in a moment of panic with wide eyes.

“You’ll get me next time, or maybe not,” Pat jokingly stated as he removed her licked clean plate from in front of her with a knowing grin. 

“You good to go?” Maggie asked while finishing off her coffee and then checked on her service revolver that she had tucked under her leather jacket. Popping out the cylinder, counting the bullets, and then flipping it back in before tucking it away again. 

“Yep, where are we going Maggie?” she asked while testing out the girl’s name and pressed the button in the palm of her gauntlet to let the white lenses slide in front of her eyes. 

“Waterfront, there is a tenement building across from where they’re meeting that rents out rooms for… how do I explain it...” Maggie faltered with her words a bit while clearly taking her for some wide-eyed innocent country girl which she hated and decided needed to be corrected right away.

“Prostitutes, escorts, illicit affairs with your secretary?” she rattled off a few potential deduced meanings to the off-duty officer’s stammered explanation before flashing the woman a cocky grin, and even though she might be socially clumsy at times, she wasn’t stupid, or blind to how the world worked.

“Yes, something in that vein, but we better get going since it’s a bit of a walk and my bike would draw attention and… why are you grinning at me like that?” Maggie asked but Pat was already chuckling while telling them to have fun and a few moments later the Latinx girl was screaming as they glided through the air in the middle of one of her long jumps with the officer’s arms tightly wrapped around her neck and shoulders.

“Put me down you loco blonde!?!” the Latinx screamed as the wind hit their faces but she only tightened her hold on the off-duty cop’s waist. 

“We’re almost there and don’t worry I’ve got you,” she laughed as she realized that it felt different to bound over tall buildings in a single leap with her hair short like this and with someone in her arms.

“When you said you could get us there in a hurry, I thought you could fly!” Maggie shouted over the rushing wind as they landed on a rooftop and she adjusted her hold on the officer’s waist before launching herself into the air again with a laugh.

“Draws too much attention,” she explained her reasoning for not flying but leaving out the fact that she wasn’t comfortable with it because that was what Kal did, not her, not yet.

“There, land us on that rooftop over there,” the now slightly less scared officer yelled and pointed at a nearby rooftop as she angled her approach and landed with a low thud on the roof kicking up dust and debris as she wasn’t used to carrying somebody.

“See? That wasn’t so bad now was it?” she asked not in a hurry to let go of the Latinx officer’s waist and why should she because this was fun, and Maggie didn’t seem to mind. 

“You’re a terror blondie,” Maggie protested while seeming not in any hurry to untangle herself from her grip and she flashed the petite officer one of her best smiles.

“But I can be very nice I assure you,” she said while letting her voice drop a little bit and flexing her arms under the battlesuit.

“Oh, I’m sure you can be all kinds of nice… Nightwing,” the officer teased her while chuckling with her hands on her arms while clearly appreciating them. 

“Now, doesn’t that sound better than calling me Skulky or blondie?” she joked and forced herself to look out over the waterfront scanning for any signs of Intergang and that accursed dagger.

“I don’t know blondie, you’re still skulking in the shadows, but come on, there is a better view from the room I arranged,” Maggie laughed and she had to admit that the girl had a deep and rich laugh and damn it keep it in your pants Zor-El, you’re on patrol.

Following the Latinx officer down the stairs to the small room with a window that overlooked the waterfront she could see why the girl had picked it. It gave a clear line of sight, a fire escape for a quick exit, but it was surprisingly clean with a bed with a metal bar headboard and a table and two chairs, basic but she guessed that what went down in this room usually didn’t require much in terms of furnishing. 

“What do we do now?” she asked and looked around the room feeling a bit out of place in her battlesuit with a mask on as she retracted the lenses again.

“We wait until they get here and watch and listen, tell me, how is your patience?” Maggie asked with a smirk because it was clear as day that she was about as patient as a kid on Christmas morning.

“Bad,” she deadpanned and that earned her another laugh from the pretty if a bit tomboyish Latinx, but it did cause her to have a revelation. Making pretty girls laugh is fun she decided and though Maggie wasn’t Lena, maybe it was time to stop dwelling on that particular friend-zone and expand her horizons.

An hour ticked by with her making bad jokes that made Maggie maybe she’s alright after all Sawyer laugh, while both of them kept checking on the waterfront until they saw a black limousine pull up, followed by a beat-up van carrying the Intergang members and finally a third party arrived which made Maggie curse.

“What’s wrong?” she asked while shocked at the mix of Spanish and English curses flowing freely from the Latinx's lips as she made a mental note to speed-learn some Spanish. 

“The intel said only two parties, who is the third guy?” the off-duty officer muttered and in response, she peered her eyes on the meeting taking place across the way from their hideout.

“I see a dozen Intergang members, there is someone in the limo but that’s weird... it’s lead-lined and armored and then there is some huge-looking guy in a trench coat, I think…” she trailed off straining her ears trying to pick up what was being said.

“Think what? Speak blondie,” Maggie urged her to convey what she was hearing as she picked up a distorted voice coming from the limo’s rolled-down window, somebody knew that she was around and potentially listening in, it had to be.

“What’s the deal, we got rid of that alien freak, and now you bring this dude?” she repeated what the Intergang frontman was saying and that made her frown but to her surprise, Maggie put a comforting hand on her arm while holding binoculars up to her brown eyes.

“Think of my and your new associate as an insurance policy my dear and you and your partners have been getting sloppy since your little victory over the alien,” she then repeated what the person in the limo was saying as the hulking figure in the trench coat only grunted.

“We don’t need any help from the likes of him, this place has too many freaks already or you for that matter,” the frontman for the group of Intergang goons snarled while clearly feeling his oats. 

“Watch your tone young man and the freaks will get their comeuppance in due time,” she gulped because she didn’t like the tone of voice from the person who was speaking from inside the limo and she felt like she was being watched.

“That doesn’t sound good…” Maggie muttered and adjusted her binoculars as she tried to see what was going as they were pressed close together by the window.

“Enough with the games already. We had a deal, you supply the stuff and we trash the Slums, simple, so what’s the deal with this meeting?” she kept relaying what she was hearing from across the way to the off-duty officer and it kept sounding worse and worse.

“Oh you should really lay off that Compound-K dear, don’t you see that you are a distraction and are you two having fun up there?” the voice coming from the limo asked her directly and she muttered a few choice Kryptonian curses under her breath.

“Fiddlesticks,” she cursed louder in English for good measure as she realized that the entire meeting they were listening in on had been set up to distract her senses because now she could hear heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and she only had seconds before the proverbial manure would hit the fan.

“Nightwing? Blondie? They’re leaving,” Maggie shouted as they watched the limo speed away from the scene leaving confused Intergang members behind before they too bolted with their new associate. Then she barely had a chance to push the officer to the floor and cover her with her own body before all hell broke loose. 

The door to the room exploded inward, showering her in splinters and plaster as she shielded Maggie from the blast, but she could hear the now angry Latinx cocking her gun and Rao this girl had moxie like Clark would call it. But now it was time to fight and moon over the tomboyish Latinx later and she grinned since she was actually looking forward to this even as the hail of bullets bounced off her skin until their attackers’ weapons ran dry. 

“My turn,” she declared while activating the lenses in her mask making them slide over her blue eyes and rose to her feet with purpose before brushing the debris off her shoulders and right next to her Maggie held out her service revolver with an angry expression on her face. 

“Metropolis PD, you are all under arrest!” the pissed-off Latinx shouted as she could hear ominous whirring noises from motors before seeing the outline of a hulking figure in a crude-looking exoskeleton emerge through the debris and dust that still hung in the air. Clenching her fists, she got ready for some fist to face focused stress relief!

* * *

Across town sighing loudly Lena pulled her tired green eyes away from the gadget she was working on. Even though it felt great to work with her hands it was exposing the gaps in her knowledge which annoyed her and on top of that, she couldn’t get the image of Kara in that black sports bra and shorts with that unearthly musculature exposed out of her mind. While at the same time she was constantly worrying about what her friend, now going by Nightwing, was doing out there in the Slums tonight and if she was alright.

Dropping the screwdriver back into her toolbox she wandered into her bedroom instead and stripped down to her lacy black underwear and instead focused on getting ready for her date coming up shortly. Date, ha! It wasn’t a date, no, she was about to meet up with an admittedly very pretty escort for a few drinks and then hopefully get fucked into next week in an effort to kill any lingering feelings she had for Kara Zor-El beyond friendship. Lingering, sure keep telling yourself that Luthor!

Rummaging through her closets she laid out her little black dress on the bed which would work nicely because she’d instructed the blonde escort she’d hired to dress like a Kara. Sitting down on her bed, she pulled her black heels out of their box and sighed, but then she steeled herself as a wave of guilt and loathing washed over her before she got herself back under control. This was to protect Kara, protect their friendship that couldn’t be allowed to grow beyond anything more than that and then her mother called and like a whipped puppy she answered.

“Hello mother,” she answered her phone as she wandered aimlessly into the en-suite bathroom to spray some perfume on her neck and between her breasts and set about doing her makeup with the phone resting on the counter.

“Lena, darling, how are you?” her mother asked with fake sincerity dripping from her lips over the phone and she guessed her mother was probably on her fourth glass of red wine since she never called her when she was sober at least not in recent memory.

“No complaints, to what do I owe the honor?” she asked and put on her bright red lipstick, it was her fuck me lipstick, and then started doing her eyelashes turning herself into the party girl she hated being. 

“Wanted to check up on you that’s all, anything new I should be aware of,” her mother replied clearly fishing for something and yep the woman she was forced to call her mother was definitely drunk, she had to be.

“Going on a date later,” she said and though it was a lie it was also technically true. It was going to be a very short date followed by a very rough session of sex she decided while checking on her eyelashes in the mirror before adding more volume to them. 

“Oh wonderful, who is he?” Lillian asked cheerfully and she almost crushed the eyeliner she was holding in her hand at that question. Even though she’d come out, many times, her mother always asked who he was, never who she was, or even who they were.

“I… he’s just some guy I swiped right on, tall, blonde hair, sounds sweet and I thought I’d give him a chance,” she lied through her teeth to spare herself a tongue lashing and resumed doing her lashes.

“Sounds like fun, bring him over for dinner someday if it works out,” her mother laughed and she wanted to punch the mirror she was standing in front of because whenever she played the good girl, the straight girl, her mother was very approving, but if she so much as looked at a girl at LexCorp the wrong way then she got dressed down and screamed at for an hour.

“I will,” she laughed, it was a fake laugh, but her mother didn’t even know the difference at this point as she dolled herself up for her date.

All this effort to look pretty, it made her miss the Kent Farm, where she’d not worn any makeup, simple dresses and gotten to be with…. no, she had to kill that memory or she’d be tempted to convince Kara to go back there sooner rather than later, and if she would put herself in that situation again things wouldn’t end with a kiss on the cheek and she knew that.

“I won’t keep you my darling, but remember to remind this boy that you’re a Luthor and he should treat you accordingly,” Lillian said after a pause and she almost burst out laughing, oh that ‘boy’ was going to treat her like a Luthor alright or at least like a Luthor deserved to be treated.

“I will,” she promised her obviously drunk mother with a chuckle and studied her pale body in the mirror as she listened to her mother ramble something about LexCorp while sounding like she was in the back of one of their family limos.

“Look mom, I’m going to get ready, talk to you again soon, alright?” she asked after her mother had rambled on for a few minutes about everything from stock prices to their house in the Bahamas and she was about ready to hurl her phone into the toilet and flush it.

“Oh I’m sorry darling, have fun, kisses,” her mother said and hung up on her thus leaving her alone with her thoughts again as she pulled the dress on before wandering back to the lab with her heels swinging in her hand. 

“What a fucking mess,” she growled to herself as she checked on the beaker that was self-stirring with another batch of the untested kryptonite antidote, just in case her Farmgirl would need more and she checked her phone to see if the emergency transponder had been pinged but it was thankfully silent which meant Kara was safe. 

“Guess I’m out of excuses,” she muttered, slipped on her heels, grabbed her clutch, then took the stairs down to the garage on the first floor of the converted warehouse she called home and slipped into her little red sports car.

“You can do this,” she said to herself and pressed the engine’s start button as the dashboard lit up with red lights before revving the engine a few times in frustration as she waited for the garage doors to open. 

Bursting out of the garage, she pulled a sharp turn with the wheels screeching in protest against the road as she sped towards the hotel she’d used before for these kinds of dates and it hit home that she didn’t even need to use the navigation app on her phone to find it. It was a sobering realization that she knew where it was out of habit by now because this wasn’t the first and it wouldn’t be the last time that she did this.

Pulling up to the curb about a block away from the hotel, she parked the car in a discreet spot, checked her lipstick one more, and opened up her black clutch. Counting out the payment for the escort before dropping her phone into the clutch on silent so she wouldn’t be distracted by it before she slipped out of the car with her heels clicking on the dark and glistening pavement.

Entering the lobby just as it began to rain, she headed for the hotel bar and smirked when she saw that the young blonde who was sitting by the bar had followed her instructions to the letter. The tall and athletic woman was wearing wire-frame glasses, with her hair in a ponytail and had a messenger bag at her side which no doubt contained the tools of her trade as requested too. However, the outfit wasn’t quite what Kara would wear she observed, the jeans were black but too new looking, the black and white checkered shirt was buttoned from the left, not the right, and the shoes were distinctly feminine, but it would do. 

“Hello, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” she said in a low voice as she slipped onto the barstool next to the blonde.

“No just got here a few minutes ago, I’m Kimberly,” the blonde introduced herself brightly, and for a second, she wondered if the name was fake or not and if she could even go through with this.

“L…” she almost said Lee, but that wasn’t right anymore, her Farmgirl called her Lee and she wouldn’t sully that connection between them no matter what was going to happen tonight. “Kieran,” she instead introduced herself by her middle name with a grin.

“Hey, fake names, I get it,” Kimberly, who sounded like she was from somewhere in Southern California, laughed and damn it this girl sounded too sweet for this job, she thought before clamping down hard on her conscience.

“Been doing this long?” she asked since they were the only ones at the hotel’s bar at this hour and held up two fingers to get the attention of the bartender who gave a nod in return while polishing a glass.

“A while, Metropolis University isn’t free you know,” the blonde nervously giggled and she put her hand on the girl’s knee to calm her down which earned her a soft-looking expression. 

“Scotch and the lady will have a virgin Bloody Mary,” she ordered for them when the bartender came over and she gave the girl credit because she knew how to play her role judging by her body language and expressions.

“Thank you,” Kimberly murmured and smiled at her and it was a cute smile that probably charmed a lot of people, but there was something not clicking for her when she looked at the girl’s pretty face.

“So tell me about yourself, you sound like you’re from So-Cal, am I close?” she asked in a low voice and sipped her scotch when it arrived and while it wasn’t the best, it would do the trick to get her in the mood.

“Yep, born and raised in a small town just outside San Diego,” the girl laughed and sipped her blood-red drink carefully and while it took all her willpower she managed to play pretend again, but unlike in Smallville this particular game of playing pretend stung at something in her soul.

After some chit chat where she stroked the girl’s knee and thigh, she felt like she’d completed the small talk portion of their exchange and slipped down from the barstool after paying for the drinks. Offering Kimberly her hand while flashing her best Luthor smirk at the tan and bright young woman to which the blonde shyly smiled back, then took her hand and allowed herself to be escorted to the elevators. Where once the doors closed, she pinned Kimberly to the wall and kissed her hard with her hands grabbing onto her athletic ass. It was time to get this show on the road.

* * *

Back in the Slums, admit the still settling debris and dust from the explosion Nightwing found herself fighting side by side with Maggie Sawyer while she tried to shield the now angry Latinx from the incoming attack the best she could, but to her credit, the officer gave as good as she got. When the door had been blown open and before the dust had settled they’d been rushed not by Intergang members, but instead by a hulking figure in an exoskeleton leading a group of what looked like mercs for hire in mismatched combat gear with their faces covered by ballistic face masks. 

“What the hell is going on here!” Maggie shouted as she emptied her service revolver into the body armor of the hired mercs driving them back and thus giving her a chance to go toe to toe with the hulking figure that had led the charge.

“We got set up! They wanted to get to me or you and… duck!” she shouted and pushed the Latinx behind her again before throwing up her arms to block the incoming blow from the hulking exoskeleton wearing goon. It rattled her bones a bit and drove her back about a foot, but after days in the Kansas sun, she was as strong as ever. 

“You don’t look so tough,” the scarred man in the crude-looking combat exoskeleton grunted and she quickly scanned the contraption with her X-ray vision looking for weak spots as she balled her hand up into a fist.

“Oh, I’m full of surprises,” she fired back and aimed a punch for the power source in the exoskeleton’s chest but it was shielded yet the force of her strike did drive him back several feet before he recovered with a stunned look on his ugly face.

The sudden turn in his fortunes surprised the scarred goon and now that the dust had fully settled, she could see that he was wearing what looked like a crudely made, but combat-grade eight-foot-tall exoskeleton. Though crude in it’s build-quality it was a definite upgrade for her foes though it wasn’t as bad as a kryptonite dagger, but he recovered and raised his fist again with a loud whirring noise. It was obvious that whoever built his suit had either been in a hurry or just plain sloppy she observed.

“I could call for backup,” the officer shouted over the ruckus from behind her as she grabbed onto the fist that was aimed for her head with both hands as it came down to deliver a second punch causing the exoskeleton to make a dreadful screeching noise as it strained against her strength. 

“Off-duty remember!” she yelled at Maggie and then groaned when she took a blow to the jaw while she was busy shielding the officer but then grinned at her attacker when she recovered.

“Oh my, aren’t you two cute,” the exoskeleton wearing goon laughed, and in response to that quip she slowly twisted the motorized fist that she was holding making him groan out in pain. 

“So, tell me before I knock you out, what’s your name, Metallo-3? Brickhouse? Blockbuster?” she quipped back as she kept twisting before she pushed the arm that she was holding with both hands back and then jumped up from the floor and headbutted the goon wearing the exoskeleton right in the nose. The force of the well-aimed headbutt sent him reeling backward with blood spurting from his nose before he regained his footing with a snarl.

“Jokes, really?” Maggie asked as she pulled out an expandable baton with a do I have to do everything around here myself look on her face and with surprising agility slid between the exoskeleton’s legs before climbing up his back where the now angry Latinx started choking the man in the machine out.

“Fewer comments, more fighting,” she laughed as she allowed herself to feel the thrill of combat as Aunt Astra had called it back on Krypton during their secret training sessions and managed to grab the man the exoskeleton in a bearhug while the off-duty officer choked him out.

Not going down without a fight, the goon started trying to shake them off as he drove her back first against a wall with Maggie pulling hard on the baton the off-duty cop had across his neck. After a few more tumbles and being slammed into walls with her taking the brunt of it, in the end, they won and as the exoskeleton wearing goon hit the ground with a thud, they shared a look and grinned at each other before they found themselves standing face to face with the dozen or so hired mercs who eyed them warily. But she simply grinned as she punched her fist into her palm creating a small shockwave which sent them stumbling backward as Maggie twirled her baton with a frown.

“You take the six on the left?” the Latinx asked gruffly clearly eager to fight and as she decided she liked this gutsy girl quite a bit she gave a firm nod.

“Ladies first,” she offered before they rushed the now visibly nervous hired mercs together and she pressed the button in the palm of her gauntlet to retract her mask’s lenses before she allowed her heat-vision to flare to life with a crackling sound. 

Focused bursts of heat-vision at super-speed disabled their weapons in short order, with the blueish blasts sizzling in the dusty air of the hallway and they screamed dropping their weapons which left them open to a vicious assault by a now pissed-off Maggie Sawyer who clearly didn’t like to be played for a fool or set up. 

In the end she was fighting back to back with the much shorter girl, who was cursing heavily and aiming her baton for knees and elbows with fire and fury in her brown eyes and damn it this girl was something else she decided as she focused on not hurting the mercs too much. 

It was chaos, but she was pretty sure they were winning. With their guns rendered useless one of them tried to use his now disabled weapons as a club and swung it at her head, but she caught it easily, crushed it in her fist, and then with an almost disdainful motion flicked him with her index finger sending him crashing through the nearest wall. Looking around for more people to fight she found that their numbers had dwindled, and the rest were reluctant to engage her but then Maggie helped move things along as she rushed them.

“Catch!” the fiery Latinx shouted despite being outnumbered and kicked one of the remaining mercs into her and she allowed the man to crash against her chest with a loud thud. Since Maggie seemed to have things well in hand, she decided to ask some questions. 

“Who do you work for?” she demanded but he was sputtering in fear since she still had her eyes glowing electric blue. Picking him up easily, she then body-slammed him to the floor with authority as more of them fell to Maggie’s swinging baton and now well-aimed kicks to groins, the fiery girl didn’t play around it would seem and she fought dirty.

“Who do you work for?” she demanded again as she knelt over him with the echoes of his companions being beaten to a pulp ringing in the hallway.

“I… third-party, burner phones, woman’s voice,” the dazed merc managed to gasp out and she picked him up by the front of his harness while letting his feet dangle in the air.

“Names,” she demanded but all he could do was shake his head, clearly more scared of whoever hired him than of her and what she might do to him. Not that she’d do anything she was nice like that after all.

“A little help blondie!” Maggie finally shouted from where she was delivering a sharp elbow to a poor merc’s solar plexus, driving the air from his lungs before jumping on him thus driving him to the ground and raining punches down on his face. 

Not getting any more answers from the now blubbering merc she was holding she nonchalantly hurled him at his remaining cohorts sending three of them stumbling to the ground as she heard another stream of curses from Maggie as she straddled the poor man on the ground. 

“We’re done here,” she declared and pulled the angry off-duty officer of the man she was punching in the face with gusto. 

“Put me down blondie!” Maggie angrily protested while kicking her feet at being picked up like a sack of potatoes or a misbehaving kitten, but she was already picking up the sounds of more footsteps approaching, and as her aunt Astra had taught her there was no reason to expend energy on a worthless battle.

“More coming and they don’t know anything,” she whispered into the angry girl’s ear and launched herself out a nearby window where she landed on the ground below with a loud crash that cracked the pavement underneath her feet as it seemed her new boots had some limits. 

“Got another room somewhere?” she asked making no move to put the girl down in case they would have to make a quick exit from the scene.

“Fuck, hate being set up, but yeah I do and we need to lay low for the night,” Maggie who had calmed down fairly quickly muttered and before she knew it she was being dragged into a room at a nearby motel by the off-duty officer who was breathing heavily, they both were, and then they both began laughing as the adrenaline wore off.

“Damn blondie, you know how to fight and you are scary when you do that glowing eyes thing,” Maggie laughed as the door closed and she ran her hand through her blonde hair while she laughed at the compliment or at least she was pretty sure it was a compliment.

“You’re not so bad yourself off-duty officer Sawyer,” she praised the feisty Latinx as she realized that there was only one bed in the room, but this was only a hiding place while they recovered. Why do you care about the bed situation Zor-El? The voice that sounded like Alex asked in her head.

“That was fun though right? Guess we both needed to blow off some steam?” Maggie asked with a wide grin and then she did that earnest thing where she spoke before thinking.

“I don’t know, but I could blow off some more steam,” she admitted before realizing the implication of her words, but Rao she needed some kind of release if only to take her mind of the things she would have to face at LexCorp tomorrow.

“I know what you mean,” Maggie gave a mumbled chuckle with her brown eyes darkening and smoldering and she gulped. She couldn’t be, could she? 

Both of them had stopped laughing, instead, they stood facing each other with her looking down and Maggie looking up at her with one of those unreadable looks on her face she sometimes got from girls. Having only moments to defuse the situation, but realizing that she’d used up all of her good jokes and stories while on the stake-out she now found herself standing by the motel room bed, looking down into Maggie’s brown eyes and then down her burgundy shirt and as usual she wasn’t the most subtle person in the world.

“See something you like... hero?” Maggie asked while radiating sensual cockiness as she unbuttoned the top buttons on her shirt and in response, she grinned because it felt nice to be called a hero, even if a bit sarcastically. 

“I didn’t think you liked vigilantes, officer?” she teased back and allowed her hands to fall on the girl’s shapely hips as she tried not to stare at the cleavage being slowly revealed to her curious eyes. Arguing with herself that this was the adrenaline driving her forward and not some need to put what had happened in Smallville behind her, she still pushed ahead. 

“I don’t, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun, what do you say Nightwing?” the Latinx officer teased her with a low husky voice and that made her eyebrows shoot up before she leaned down and kissed the woman’s lips very slowly with gauntleted hands squeezing her hips as she felt Maggie’s hand stroke the empty blue crest on the breastplate of her suit. Fun sounded good, but she knew she had to explain her rules somehow to the brown-eyed girl stroking her breastplate or else she might jump out the window in a panic. 

Meanwhile, in the much nicer and upscale hotel room that Lena had rented for the night, she held onto the pristine white bedsheets while grunting as the blonde standing behind her thrust into her again and again, but it wasn’t doing anything. Why wasn’t it doing anything? Lena thought with the frustration she was feeling growing. The girl was stunning, sweet, and caring, smart too, and studied sociology at Metropolis University as she’d found out over a shared glass of wine before they’d gotten down to business. 

“Harder,” she demanded through clenched teeth and felt the strap she’d requested pumping in and out of her as she rested on her knees and elbows on the made-up bed with the muted television showing the news and her ass in the air.

The blonde escort tightly held onto her shoulders and thrust into her again and again as the slapping sounds of skin meeting skin echoed in the hotel room. Why the hotel room and not her apartment well that was because she didn’t shit where she ate, and her apartment was her sanctuary.

“The lube… get the lube…” she grunted in frustration and what was with it about blondes being fucking sweet and caring, she wasn’t paying for that tonight.

“Are you sure?” the escort asked way too sweetly to which she nodded her head firmly not wanting to waste words and braced herself for what was to come knowing that she deserved it.

While she waited for it as the gentle-handed escort lubed her up in preparation, she closed her eyes, thought about her Farmgirl, and then she felt the pressure against her anus. The lubed-up strap pressed into her ass and she let out a groan as she reached between her legs and furiously rubbed her clit. Telling herself that she deserved this, and the blonde escort pushed in deeper while squeezing her buttocks. The tan and toned escort thrust into her body again and again but no matter how she tried all she could see was Kara’s smiling face even as she screwed her eyes shut tight and started roughly rubbing her swollen clit.

“Spank me,” she grunted before her order was followed by a brief pause before she felt a hand smacking against her butt and the image of Kara in her mind faded.

“Fuck! Harder, harder, my hair,” she moaned her incoherent orders and felt the blonde escort grab a fistful of her hair and fuck her like she needed to be fucked right now. The image of Kara faded from her mind and she knew she was sweating as the escort’s toned stomach slapped against her butt again and again.

Back across the water in the Slums at what was supposed to be them laying low for a bit had turned into something much steamier at the motel room Nightwing and Officer Sawyer were sharing. The blonde hero was busy with her hand between the legs of off-duty Officer Sawyer after she’d discarded her gauntlets and pinned the Latinx's hands down by the wrists above her head. She still wasn't comfortable with being touched, not really, but Maggie seemed to pick up on what she needed fairly quickly and that helped things tremendously, but it wasn't like she was giving the Latinx much choice in the matter either. 

“You are… the worst…” the pretty Latinx moaned as Danvers smirked while sliding between her legs where she licked slowly up her slit and enjoyed the feeling of trimmed hairs against her tongue and the tip of her nose.

“Teaches you to threaten to arrest me and think you’ll get away with it, but hands above your head, please,” she chuckled and flicked her tongue against the officer’s clit which made her arch her hips off the bed.

“Bossy... Fuck… still should have arrested you…” Maggie moaned and she grinned into the woman’s trimmed sex before rising up and zipping down the front of her new battlesuit, the suit that Lena had given her earlier but she tried not to dwell on that fact too much.

“Quiet now Officer Sawyer and hands where I can see them, remember?” she ordered the woman with her voice rumbling from inside her chest and lifted her leg up so she could press her shorts’ covered crotch against the woman’s exposed pussy as she moved her fingers up to her mask.

“No! Keep it on,” the officer whispered urgently and then moaned as she moved urgently against her latest fling, her latest lover, her latest hook-up, though a part of her ached for more than that.

“You sure?” she asked even though this was a hook-up, yet she always wanted that connection with the other person, and she knew that it must be weird that she was like that she thought.

“The less I know…” Maggie whispered and with a nod, she moved her hand to the woman’s breast and gave it a squeeze as she started grinding herself harder against the petite girl’s very warm and wet sex.

This was fun, but it wasn’t Smallville, but Lena had made her choice and now she was making hers, she decided as she could feel the front of her black and tight shorts soaked with her own wetness and need and she could hear Officer Sawyer, no Maggie, moan loudly and saw the girl holding onto the bed’s headboard as ordered while she pressed herself harder and desperately against the woman’s crotch again and again. Needing more, she pulled the shirt Maggie had unbuttoned to tease her open and nearly tore off the girl’s sensible-looking bra as she pulled her battlesuit open wider to allow her humble sports bra covered breasts to spring free. Then she pressed herself against the Latinx’s body with their breasts rubbing together and she knew what she was doing, she was fucking the pretty officer to forget. Finally, just in case, she grabbed onto the girl's wrists as she moved faster and felt her breathing getting shorter. 

At the upscale hotel, with her face buried in a pillow, her raven-black hair being pulled and with her bottom pink from the spanks, Lena finally orgasmed, as she felt the soreness starting to spread from where the strap was thrusting into her again and again, but she came hard all over her fingers. 

“Keep going…” she grunted as she forced herself to come again from being used like this and lewdly slipped two fingers inside herself as the escort fucked her brains out. This is how a Luthor deserves to be treated mother, she thought bitterly.

Danvers was pressing herself hard against Maggie’s trimmed sex while she rubbed herself to a frictional orgasm through her shorts on top of the petite Latinx tomboy, with her mouth engulfing a firm tan breast as her hook-up moaned and came from being taken and arched her back off the motel room’s bed with her own orgasm washing over her and Danvers smiled. This was fun, she thought happily through the post-orgasmic fog clouding her mind. 

Lena frowned when she felt the strap being pulled out of her ass, she let out a stifled gasp and then tensed up when the escort moved to cuddle her, but she shook her head and rolled away, nude, covered in sweat and feeling both satisfied and deeply ashamed as her entire lower body throbbed from what she’d asked the sweet blonde to do.

“Go clean up, shower and then come back,” she ordered the friendly and cute blonde escort who looked at her with something akin to pity mixed with disappointment. 

“Yes ma’am,” the blonde escort, Kimberly, murmured and walked into the bathroom of the room still very nude and wearing the glistening strap as she buried her face in her hands while sitting on the edge of the bed. What the fuck did you just do Luthor?

Danvers came down from her orgasm to find Maggie’s brown eyes smiling up at her as she blushed when she saw the wet spot she’d left on the woman’s crotch and noticed a faint bite mark on her tan breast, but Rao, that had felt so good, but it hadn't been with Lena, that annoying voice in the back of her head reminded her coolly.

“So… can I use my hands again,” the now satisfied Latinx teased her while still with her hands above her head as ordered and she silently nodded as Maggie flexed her fingers.

Feeling a bit awkward she moved from between Maggie’s legs and looked around the room, what to do now? When she’d been with Eve it had ended when Lena busted them, but this was new, should she say thanks? Leave? Order pizza? This was all very new territory for her, and she felt a bit scared and out of her element. 

“I should go?” she half-asked and moved to zip up her suit but the officer’s hand on hers stopped while she shook her head with a gentle smile. 

“Not without giving me a kiss first… hero,” Maggie declared with a grin and she was happy to oblige the woman as she leaned down and slowly kissed her full lips. This was sweet, fun, simple, but deep down Danvers knew that this wasn’t what she really wanted.

Lena, however, wasn’t having any of those worries as she heard the shower running as she moved slowly to get dressed, she was sore all over and needed a long soak in her bathtub at home, she decided. Placing a generous tip on the nightstand she walked barefoot out into the hallway before pulling on her heels while making a mental note to get that girl a scholarship so she wouldn’t have to do this anymore with freaks like her as she felt decidedly sleazy from what she’d done tonight. 

Once both girls were out in the rain, one had said a gentle goodbye and the other had fled like a coward, they both thought at the same time while being miles apart. What are you doing Zor-El… What are you doing Luthor...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, first up and full admission to that fact that I was experimenting a bit with perspectives in this chapter, usually I break the scenes up nice and tidy into Kara scenes and Lena scenes, but this time we got to see them both at once doing very similar but in the end, different things emotionally as they both try to move on from the events in Smallville. 
> 
> Also, this chapter was rewritten at least three times because of that, but I think I got it right in the end, Kara is a player, Lena is a mess, and more actors are entering the fray. 
> 
> Finally, I'm still finding my writing rhythm after the summer, but I think I've got it back down again, but the longer I get into this story the more difficult it becomes to write with the plot ramping up because fluff is easy, plot is hard people!
> 
> Next up on The Internship!
> 
> Danvers meets COO Rojas, in the battle of the powerful women!
> 
> Hanging out with Cousin Clark, what could go wrong? 
> 
> Ruby meets Kara, get ready an adorableness off! 
> 
> Is Danvers being sneaky?
> 
> A surprise visit sets of a new romance!
> 
> All this and more next time on the Internship!


	15. Piglet Pictures and Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following their night apart trying to forget about each other Danvers and Lena both take steps to move forward as a certain little girl asks them a pointed question. 
> 
> Lena takes firm steps to deal with her issues, addictions and self-esteem.
> 
> Danvers assumes her new intern posting under Andrea Rojas and then has a heart to hear with her cousin as details about his mysterious friendship with Lex finally emerge.

Lena Kieran Luthor, wearing tastefully torn designer jeans, white converse sneakers, and a nondescript black band t-shirt, sat in the waiting room on the second floor of a small brownstone building in one of the oldest and most upscale neighborhoods of Metropolis. Nobody knew she was here, she’d made sure of that when she’d set up a few false trails regarding her whereabouts this morning and not even Kara ‘Nightwing’ Danvers would be able to find her unless the blonde cheated and used her powers, but her Farmgirl didn’t do that. 

Following her ‘date’ the previous night she’d returned home and had an explosive revelation as she lay in the bathtub sipping from a glass of a very good vintage of red wine. All those things she’d done with the blonde escort and had said escort do to her, well, those acts had not doused the feelings she felt for the earnest farmgirl in her life one bit. Instead, she felt like she’d betrayed her friend, betrayed herself, debased herself for fleeting pleasure and relief, and if she were going to be a useful partner to Kara Zor-El, to Nightwing, in her crusade, that couldn’t be allowed to go on. Closing her eyes for a moment caused her mind to flashback to the very moment when realization and shame had hit her all at once. 

It had been with her purple painted toes poking up out of the bubbles floating on the surface of the water, as the wine soothed her sore throat and her guilty conscience it was then that she’d caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror and she’d not liked what she saw, not one bit. Seeing her green eyes puffy with her make-up runny making her look like a raccoon, add to that mess the faint scratch marks on her pale skin, and in short, she looked rough as a dirt road after a storm. Putting down her glass she’d allowed herself to sink down into the water with her nose barely above the waterline. Then narrowing her eyes, she’d tried to tell herself that what had happened in that hotel room had been her choice and that she could quit at any time, but it rang hollow. 

When that didn’t work she’d sank fully under the water where she’d floated while holding her breath for as long as she could until bubbles rose from the corners of her mouth with the only sound in her ears being her own thudding heartbeat. The old lies weren’t working anymore, she was worthy of more than being her mother’s doll, she deserved to stand in the light outside of her brother’s shadow and she wasn’t a stupid and slutty party girl who debased herself for momentary pleasure. The thirst for more alcohol to dull the pain flared up but she screwed her eyes tightly shut and fought against it, fought, and fought and fought. Instead, allowing herself to think about Kara, about Smallville, about building things, inventing, creating, and when the air in her lungs ran out and it started to burn, she burst out of the water, grabbed the wineglass, and hurled it against the wall where it shattered into a shower of countless sparkling pieces of crystal that hung in the air like stars with the red liquid staining the wall before running like blood down to the floor.

Opening her eyes again brought her back to the present with a low sigh escaping from her unpainted lips. After hurling the crystal glass against the wall and getting out of the bathtub, she’d decided that it was time to deal with her problems for real this time and with purpose as she cleaned up the mess she’d made while wearing her fluffy white robe. Still, now that she was here and feeling scared out of her mind, she found herself wishing that her Farmgirl was here with her to tell her it would be alright in that deep rumbling voice. Thinking about Kara made her fiddle with her phone, perhaps even look for a way out, but this appointment was way overdue and then the point of no return arrived in the form of a smiling young woman. 

“Miss Kieran, the doctor will see you now,” a cheerful-looking assistant told her using her admittedly lame and lazy assumed name and pointed her towards a heavy oak door with a bronze placard that read Dr. H. Slater NCAC. 

Taking a deep breath, she fixed her clothing and pushed the door open with renewed purpose. This wouldn’t be her first psychiatrist, no this was probably her sixth, but the difference now was that she was going to try. Try for herself, try for Kara, and maybe just maybe try for a chance at happiness if she hadn’t ruined that yet by the virtue of her foolish actions.,

Meanwhile, Danvers, sometimes known as Zor-El and in Alien Town in the Slums as Nightwing, was also fidgeting outside a door, though this was a glass one, on the seventieth floor of the LexCorp Tower and it felt like her first day at the company all over again, unlike then she now knew who she was. Danvers, Zor-El, Nightwing, yes, she was all those things and more! Self-affirmation out of the way she focused on making sure her new off-white shirt was straight, buttoned up and tucked into her jeans, the tight ones that Lena had insisted she buy, and darn it she wished the pale girl had been there to talk a bit more courage into her this morning as she fixed her belt again.

But Lena was in meetings off-site all morning according to her calendar and nervously she rubbed the toe of her black ankle boot against the back of her leg before running her hands through her short hair and made sure she had her thick-rimmed glasses on straight before raising her fist to knock before lowering it in a brief moment of panic. 

Having called in a favor from Lex Luthor, she’d asked the bald CEO to be transferred from her Data Entry Dungeon to assisting Andrea Rojas, the chief operating officer of LexCorp and one only of three people who had access to the data on Compound-K that had gone missing while she was in Smallville. That data itself wasn’t important, but rather who had taken it and locked all access to it. That was proof, proof she needed to connect whoever was behind Intergang at LexCorp and their reign of terror against the people living in the Slums and Alien Town. 

On top of that, the gnawing sense of having done something stupid the night before wouldn’t leave the back of her mind. Yes, being Nightwing had been exhilarating, fighting alongside Maggie had been a ton of fun, and even the hook-up with the fiery Latinx had been nice, but only that in retrospect once the adrenaline had faded from her system, nice. Once she’d stashed her Nightwing suit on a nearby rooftop, a makeshift solution to keep it hidden from Lois and Clark, and returned home by slipping quietly through her bedroom window the memory of her hook-up had begun to feel, not hollow, but perhaps transitory and she knew that it hadn’t been with the right person. It hadn’t been with Lena and even what she felt for Eve, the always understanding and teasing Miss Teschmacher, paled in comparison to what she felt for Lena on some deep soulful level and had tried to suppress following their trip to Smallville. 

Shaking her head, she decided that now wasn’t the time to dwell on the pale-skinned girl or any of the other girls in her life. No, right now, she needed to be confident and composed and that meant no thoughts about her maybe-more-than-friends or friends with benefits or one-night stands with fiery police officers for that matter. That settled in her mind she raised her fist again to knock on the door, but before she could rap her knuckles against the glass the door instead opened, and she was face to face with Andrea Rojas herself.

“Are you going to stand there all day? Got a name, we’re in a hurry?” the dark-eyed woman asked in a voice she could best describe as either sultry or scary with a smile tucking on the corner of her burgundy painted lips and she gulped. 

“No ma’am, and it’s Danvers… I mean Kara Danvers,” she didn’t like saying that. “Reporting for duty, ma’am,” she blurted out and wanted to give herself a firm kick to the behind. Being a master spy and being undercover it seemed was not a part of her skillset. Correction, it wasn’t a part of her skillset yet, she reminded herself firmly.

“Oh, I like you, come join me for a walk around the floor Danvers,” the chief operating officer chuckled after looking her up and down approvingly and waved for her to follow. Which she did after nearly snapping to attention. 

“Yes, ma’am and I would like to start by thanking you for accepting my transfer,” she said as she jogged to catch up with the high-heeled strides of Andrea Rojas while running through the mental checklist that she was compiling on the woman. Dark designer business suit, no correction power suit of doom, check, bossy no-nonsense attitude, check, scary heels, double-check, and yep you keep ending up around strong and well-dressed women don’t you Zor-El.

“When the request comes from the desk of Lex Luthor it isn’t like I have much of a choice, now take some notes please, have you been issued a tablet?” the chief operating officer asked with a raised eyebrow and then smirked when she pulled a pen and a pad from the back pocket of her jeans.

“I’m old-fashioned,” she explained with a shrug and got ready to jot down anything that the imposing woman would ask of her and she wondered if this whole scheme had been a mistake. How the hell was she supposed to get access to the Compound-K data from this woman who clearly had her number from minute one.

“I can see that, now, first off, I need a large iced americano from the coffee shop across the street with three packets of sugar mixed in and while you’re there get yourself something too, maybe a protein bar or something… tasty,” the sultry-voiced chief operating officer ordered her and she glanced down at herself as she took down the order while wondering if this new shirt was too tight across her arms and chest. Since she couldn’t help but to internally debate if she was being checked out or not, what with the protein bar comment and whatnot.

“Yes ma’am, right away,” she declared with a firm nod and then stood like an idiot before Rojas dismissed her with a wave of her hand, but she got the distinct feeling she was being watched and measured up as she jogged towards the elevators.

Across town in the warm and inviting office of Dr. Slater, Lena was lounging on the therapist’s couch and wondering if she was being measured up too. Granted Dr. Slater or Helen was a nice enough woman, blonde, genuine, kind, but she could see the sharp intelligence behind her blue eyes and she was asking her some fairly frank questions about why she was here and more specifically why she was here today which made her pause.

“Now, I have reviewed the files you sent me even if it was on short notice, and I must say that’s an impressive list of previous practitioners you’ve been to before coming to see me,” the therapist stated in a soft but strong voice and gave her a level look.

“What can I say I’m an ongoing project,” she tried to shrug off the question with bravado infused sarcasm but to her credit, the blonde therapist wasn’t having any of it.

“Alright, let me ask you this then, why now? I ask because I see there is a two-year gap in your treatment history before you showed up here today even though we are fully booked for months,” the therapist followed up her question with another one and her first reaction was to lie and lie big, but no that wasn’t why she was here today. This wasn’t to pacify her mother or put Lex’s mind at ease about her mental state. No, this was about herself, but yes, she had hacked the therapist’s booking system to get herself this appointment and she wasn’t particularly proud of it. 

“I… I met someone recently, a girl... at my family’s company where I work,” she said falteringly with the blonde therapist nodding for her to go on and damn it what was it with herself and understanding blondes she wondered.

“She’s sweet, earnest and I guess you could call her a salt of the earth type of person, and whenever I’m around her it’s like nothing else matters, my family, the company, my past…” she trailed off.

“Your past? Care to elaborate or should I assume the worst?” Dr. Slater asked gently with a touch of humor to her voice and a raised eyebrow while not taking notes rather simply listening to her talk and observing.

“I’ve done things, I’m not particularly proud of… fuck I’m still doing things I’m not proud of and it’s all because I’m…” she paused fumbling for the right word or phrase to use while running through a thesaurus’ worth of five-dollar words before settling on. “...scared,” she concluded.

“Admitting that you’re scared is never a bad thing, now tell me, this girl you’ve met, what would she tell you to do?” the therapist asked softly and that made her think about her Farmgirl’s sunny smile, her tall frame and those strong arms holding her gently just like on the porch of the farm during those nights in Kansas. 

“She… she’d tell me not to be scared because she’d be there for me… but it’s not that simple, my mother would… well you see in the past my mother has made life difficult for the people in my life she does not approve of me associating with,” she explained and there it was, the bottleneck, the reef that all her romantic entanglements inevitably crashed against and then sunk beneath the waves of what was the tumultuous ocean of her life as a Luthor.

“But you’re a grown woman and so is this girl. Tell me, would she be scared of your mother?” the therapist asked, with the question again causing her to think about her Farmgirl which both uplifted her soul and caused her to sink to the deepest depths of worry.

“My Farmgirl, she isn’t scared of anything! Which is both admirable and worrying,” she chuckled and she knew her eyes were softening at the mere thought of the blonde hero in her life, and damn it now she felt like shit again for doing those things with the escort.

“Your Farmgirl, that’s a very possessive turn of phrase and I understand you wanting to protect her, but are you being any different than your mother by taking the choice away from her?” Dr. Slater asked poignantly which gave her a massive pause and she was sure she looked like a goldfish with her mouth opening and closing.

“No…” she finally admitted in a low almost childlike voice while curling up into herself a little on the couch but because fuck it the woman was right, and she’d been behaving just like her mother in some twisted way. 

“Where did that voice come from? It sounded like it came from a very old place inside of you somewhere,” the therapist asked her gently as she leaned across the short space between them to give her a kind smile and to hand her a tissue.

“How much time do we have? Because that could take a while to explain,” she weakly chuckled while sniffling and blowing her nose while giving a weak smile. This was hard but if Kara was going to be a hero then she could do this.

“About half an hour more and don’t worry I leave plenty of time between my appointments,” the therapist assured her to which she nodded.

Feeling at ease, she blew her nose again before launching into the story about how from her earliest memories she’d been treated like a doll, a trophy and how by protecting Kara by pushing her away she was in a way doing the same thing that her mother had done to her for the past twenty-plus years. When the session was over, she felt drained, but lighter and with renewed purpose and resolve to give her and Danvers a proper chance. No playing pretend or stolen moments, a real and proper chance at being together in whatever shape that might take. 

While Lena was finding her purpose, Danvers was thanking her lucky stars for Kryptonian yellow sun-infused stamina as keeping up with Miss Rojas was like running a marathon and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet her stomach reminded her with a gurgle. The authoritative woman was a human whirlwind, jumping between meetings, calls, and seemingly random one on ones with LexCorp staff with ease while she trailed a respectful distance behind taking notes in between being sent off to fetch either various documents, drinks, or snacks or simply being asked a random question seemingly out of the blue which always flustered her a little bit because again it was like she was being measured and judged by the sharp-dressed executive. 

“Danvers, what do you know about our biotech division?” Miss Rojas asked her while looking back over her shoulders with dark eyes studying her reaction as they strode towards the chief operating officer’s next seemingly random meeting.

“I know that LexCorp has been working on advances in the cell targeted treatment of diseases and…” she paused wanting to bring up the Compound-K data but stopped herself since she didn’t have the measure of the woman’s character down just yet. 

“...and in the past, there was work on tissue enhancement and regeneration for uses in trauma victims’ post-recovery,” she instead rattled off one of the patents she’d scanned and filed while working in the sub-basement.

It was frustrating because remembering things very well was one thing, but without the Compound-K documents and knowing who had restricted access to them, she didn’t have any proof to bring to either Lena or Lex, if Lex could be trusted. But Lena, she knew she could trust Lena with anything and maybe, no definitely, she would definitely pursue the pale-skinned girl no matter what had happened in Smallville. Because being with Maggie the night before especially when the Latinx had asked her to keep the mask on and Eve wanting to keep things casual had shown her one thing. That thing was that she needed to be with someone who knew all of her, not one small part, this revelation had come to her in the elevator earlier while munching on a protein bar as per Miss Rojas’ instructions but it was nonetheless a valid one. 

“Very good Danvers, it would seem that you are a wealth of knowledge and here I thought you were only here to pad out your university application,” the dark-eyed chief operating officer praised her, and a part of her lapped up the praise which the woman delivered in her sultry voice. 

“Thank you, ma’am,” she nodded as she had to bite into her cheek a little bit because she did have ulterior motives for being here which made getting praised as nice as that felt feel unearned. 

Still, praises aside, right now she had to focus on playing the role of the dutiful intern and getting herself in Miss Rojas’ good graces or get access to the woman’s laptop, she reminded herself as she again gave chase to the chief operating officer who was already striding into a meeting room.

* * *

Lunchtime at the LexCorp Tower was always a chaotic affair since the office tower would empty when the staff would either head for one of the many cafeterias or restaurants that dotted the massive structure or head out into the city for luncheons and meetings. It was this rush of humanity that Lena returned to after her session with Dr. Slater and already late for a very important lunch with Sam and Ruby as she spotted them waiting and waved. The wave on top of being in a distracted rush with her head filled with what she wanted to tell her Farmgirl caused her to slam right into what felt like a brick wall, a very blonde and tall brick wall who didn’t even budge at the impact while she was sent sprawling onto her ass. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t see you and… hi…” her Farmgirl blurted out before recognizing her while smiling shyly down at her before sticking out a hand and why was the blonde this damn tall anyways? 

“It’s alright I wasn’t looking where I was going and you’re sneaky for someone so tall and… hi…” she blurted out in response before her voice softened as she took the offered strong and calloused hand without thinking about it while hoping to part ways with Danvers quickly as possible.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be around Kara, no, in fact, it felt very nice, but all of a sudden she felt less sure of herself what with Sam and Ruby rushing towards them and with Danvers effortlessly hauling her to her feet. Which caused her to end up way too close to the muscular frame of her tall and blonde Farmgirl as her smirking friend reached them. 

“You alright there, Lee? Anything hurt?” Sam asked wearing a dark blue business suit fitting of someone working in accounting with a knowing smirk as Ruby who wore jeans with patches on the knees and a She-Ra t-shirt hid behind her mother while looking curiously up at the tall blonde that clearly had the little girl tongue-tied.

“Only my pride, but Sam meet Danvers, Danvers this is my friend Sam,” she introduced the pair as she thankfully quickly recovered and she refused to be turned into a babbling wreck in the presence of Kara Danvers no matter what revelations she’d had about her feelings for the blonde beefcake of a girl during her session with the therapist.

“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Danvers, always polite and proper, said and stuck out her hand towards Sam which the tall brunette took while giving the blonde a measured look but with a smile. 

“Likewise, and it’s good to finally put a face to a name,” Sam nodded and shook the offered hand as Ruby who had emerged from hiding behind her mother looked between her and Danvers with curious young eyes.

“And this is Ruby,” she introduced her honorary niece who was still gazing up at her Farmgirl in amazement. Her very tall and handsome Farmgirl and knock it out Luthor, you like her, and you know this already. 

“Hi there...” Danvers greeted the girl in a gentle but shaky voice and there was an awkwardness to the tall blonde as she knelt to be at the little girl’s level while sticking out her hand again. This was interesting as it did appear that Kara Danvers wasn’t the most comfortable around children.

“Hi…” Ruby mumbled shyly while shaking the blonde’s large hand thus making the entire scene extremely adorable.

“I’m Danvers, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ruby,” the polite blonde declared with a smile coming to her lips and she didn’t need to see this scene right now. Since Sam being here made it all even worse especially in regard to her fledgling admission to herself of liking Kara Danvers.

“We were about to head out for pizza... care to join us Danvers?” her supposed friend asked the blonde who as always couldn’t hide her emotions or appetite even if she tried. 

Though her first instinct was to somehow stop this from happening, she remembered what Dr. Slater had said and reminded herself that both she and Danvers were grown-ass women and that she shouldn’t take agency away from the blonde Farmgirl like her mother had tried to do with her time and again.

“I… uh…” Danvers mumbled looking very unsure of herself and clearly trying to be polite and not wanting to interpose herself on their lunch. 

“Don’t you like pizza?” Ruby asked the blonde when she hesitated as the child was still shaking hands with her Farmgirl and a part of her still wanted to scream no, but she clamped down on that irrational fear hard. 

“I love pizza… everyone loves pizza and I would love to join you… I mean if it’s alright with you Lee?” Danvers half asked and half blurted out while looking straight at her with those earnest blue eyes and there was no way she could say no to that look since after all this was the short-haired blonde’s choice to make not hers.

“Of course, it would be perfect,” she replied a little too fast and loudly while giving a nervous laugh, and Sam to her credit kept her eyebrows in check. 

“Perfect, come on Ruby, you two follow,” Sam declared echoing her words and picked Ruby up while Danvers rose to her feet dusting off her tight jeans and was she imagining things, or was the blonde offering her a hand to hold. Yes, that was indeed an offered hand and it did cause her to freeze up for a second as Sam walked off while not so subtly giving them a moment.

“Coming?” Danvers asked her curiously while still holding out a calloused hand. Maybe the blonde was being friendly, maybe it was nothing, but she wasn’t going to run away this time or be scared of her mother.

“Danvers, I… you know what nevermind,” she started saying something stupid, something to stop this moment from happening, but instead after seeing her Farmgirl’s smile she grabbed that strong offered hand and gave a firm nod. 

When their hands touched Danvers had to suppress a shiver and instead focus on controlling her strength and excitement. It felt almost as good as everything she’d done with Maggie the night before. This simple act of her holding hands with Lena Luthor gave her wings and she had to fight against the urge to hover up from the ground even though she’d not tried flying in a while. Catching up with Lena’s friend and her adorable rugrat she kept a firm hold of the pale girl’s hand and resolved never to let go of it if she had anything to say about it. 

The pizza place was cute, the slices were huge and best of all she was sitting next to Lena in public and it was amazing. It was a revelation to witness them together because the pale-skin girl was quite frankly adorable around Ruby, quizzing the kid on everything from math to history and the little girl was sharp as a tack but she noticed Sam giving her a knowing look when she was busted gazing at Lena which she tried to ignore by biting into her massive slice of pepperoni pizza that was almost as big as her head.

“Lena tells me you’re from Smallville in Kansas, but I could have sworn I heard a hint of a So-Cal accent,” Sam probed her, and she tried not to grin as she swallowed her lunch. Rao! Lena had talked about her, to other people and that made her feel light as a feather.

“I split my time between Midvale in California in the winter and the family farm in Smallville in the summer,” she explained and took a long drink from her soda as she felt Lena’s hand on her knee which caused her to fight against the flush creeping into her cheeks. 

“Sam... no interrogations,” Lena reprimanded her friend taking a break from quizzing Ruby and then as a pleasant surprise actually squeezed her knee under the table as a sign of support.

“No it’s fine, ask away if you want,” she offered while trying to be polite but she wasn’t used to opening up to people, sure with Lena and to a degree with Eve but that old conditioning to stay hidden and not give too much away was sometimes still there in the back of her mind.

“Are you Lena’s special friend?” Ruby asked innocently through a mouthful of pizza before Sam could ask a follow-up question, catching everyone around the table off guard and making Sam nervously laugh as any embarrassed parent would.

“Honey, we don’t ask things like that, remember?” the woman reminded her daughter who was looking between them all with big and curious brown eyes.

“Why not? Don’t you remember mom? Aunt Lee was talking about being a special friend with a girl, but that she’d done a big boo-boo and then I told her she should just try being her friend and see what happens,” the adorable rugrat blurted out and reminding both her and Lena of something they’d talked about what felt like ages ago.

Danvers remembered that when they’d started their weird and winding road to whatever they were right now, Lena had taken her out clubbing, there had been an ill-advised attempt at an arranged hook-up, but after some misunderstandings, they’d gotten on the same page about being friends. In the aftermath, the pale-skinned girl had mentioned that someone smart, maybe too smart, had told her to try simply being her friend and at the time it had made her jealous, but now it turned out that smart someone was Ruby Arias, age eight and that they were both idiots.

“Ruby, you see... Danvers is…” Lena started trying to explain to the little girl what they were, but that wasn’t easy not even for the raven-haired genius and she could see the wheels spinning furiously behind those luminous green eyes in search of a kid-friendly answer. 

“...her special friend, yes, you’re absolutely right Ruby,” she cut in, and that caused Lena’s green eyes to widen for a split second before the pale girl got them back under control but the hand on her knee was gently rubbing it again now.

“Any other questions?” she asked the mother and daughter duo though Sam was openly grinning now but trying to hide it behind a slice of pizza.

“What is it like on your farm?” Ruby asked excitedly while seemingly satisfied with their answer and that made her smile as she leaned across the table since she loved talking about the farm.

“It’s great, my Ma and Pa live there, and we have lots of… well corn, a few cows and…” she started regaling the girl with stories of the farm before Lena excitedly and somewhat surprisingly cut in 

“...and piglets, don’t forget about Sir Wigglesworth, he’s the cutest,” the pale girl reminded her excitedly and she didn’t even fight against the huge smile blossoming across her lips.

“Yes pigs and piglets too, they live in the mud behind my barn and at night they go sleep in their little house that I built,” she told Ruby who was bouncing in her seat with her pizza and soda almost forgotten.

“Do you have pictures of them? Can I come and visit?” the rugrat asked in rapid succession and she had no idea how to handle this situation since she didn’t want to overstep any boundaries.

“We’d have to ask Ma and Pa, and your mom too, but I think Danvers has some pictures,” Lena stepped in to save her bacon while speaking in a calm and soothing voice, and in response, she pulled out her beat-up old phone to show Ruby and Sam the pictures she’d taken of the raven-haired and pale girl holding up Sir Wigglesworth. 

“He’s so cute!” Ruby giggled and before she knew it she was taking them on a virtual tour of the farm using the pictures from their trip along with the live feed from her monitoring systems to show them the animals, the cornfields, and the irrigation system which weren’t that exciting to an eight-year-old, but Pa riding his tractor got her interest and the pigpen-cam was a big hit. 

After lunch she found herself holding hands with Lena again as they walked back to the LexCorp Tower with Ruby still asking farm-related questions which she tried her best to answer while the pale girl kept giving her hand an encouraging squeeze to signal that she was doing great. Shaking hands with Sam and Ruby she bid the mother and daughter duo a polite farewell with Sam declaring that they’d have to do this again before not so sneakily leaving the two of them alone outside the LexCorp Tower to have a moment before the workday would commence again. 

“I had fun,” she said matter of fact to the girl by her side as she looked up the tall and gleaming tower of chrome and glass looming over them. 

“Me too,” Lena replied in a very soft voice as the pale girl followed her line of sight up the tower and towards the sky as they kept holding hands.

“Ruby is amazing,” she chuckled while making no effort to move from this spot since that meant letting go of Lena’s soft pale hand.

“She’s the best, Sam’s pretty cool too,” the green-eyed girl laughed and at the same time, they both looked down at their hands with their fingers interlaced between them.

“Lee, do you want to go out with me sometime?” she asked without thinking about it, no hesitation, no fear, just ask the girl and see what happens.

“I’d love too... I’m free tonight,” the pale girl replied with a slight hitch in her voice but her green eyes fearless because screw her mother and her stupid rules.

“Can’t tonight, movie night with Clark,” she sighed having almost forgotten about that and the promise she’d given to Lois to spend some time with her clueless cousin.

“I… I can stay up…” Lena offered hesitantly alluding to their other nighttime activities with a shy smile, not a smirk, tucking at the corners of her lips.

“Are you sure? I can’t leave the apartment until they’re both asleep so it would be quite late,” she asked looking down at the petite girl by her side who in response nodded and then got up on her toes and kissed her on the cheek.

“Oh, I’m sure! See you tonight Nightwing or if you prefer… Zor-El,” the green-eyed nymph whispered in her ear and she couldn’t help but smile like an idiot at hearing that name from Lena’s lips.

“Look forward to it… Miss Luthor,” she replied while she allowed her voice to drop in timbre as she made a move to pull her hand away from Lena’s grasp but the green-eyed genius wasn’t having any of it.

“No, keep it there, I like it,” Lena declared and together they marched into the LexCorp Tower hand in hand. This open display of affection wouldn’t go unnoticed of course, but neither of them cared, and instead, they both focused on the good feelings this simple act caused to swell up inside of their respective souls.

* * *

Later that night things had gotten awkward for Danvers. Very awkward. In Rao’s name! How could sitting on a couch feel so damn awkward? She thought while she also contemplated somewhat glumly why she hadn’t bailed already to go hang out with Lena. Still, because she was a good cousin and love Lois to bits, here she was sitting next to Clark after her Metropolis Mom had slipped out of, or more like fled out of, the apartment telling them to have fun watching their movies. Following her departure, a long and uncomfortable silence had ensued between them with both of them nibbling at the bowl of chips on the coffee table and avoiding making eye contact through their matching thick-rimmed glasses.

“How is work? The internship at LexCorp I mean?” Clark finally asked lamely and she tucked her knees under her chin as she curled up on the couch in her red and blue shorts and tank top which was oddly matching the shorts and t-shirt her cousin was wearing with both of them wearing worn old gym socks.

“Today was busy I got transferred to operations and trailed their COO and then I had lunch with Lena and her friend who has the cutest little girl,” she answered or more like blurted it out with a smile while thinking about what had really been a perfect lunch. 

“Still hanging around with Lena Luthor I see then,” he commented, and that caused a flash of anger to shoot through her as she debated heat-visioning his spit curl right off his forehead.

“Yes, she’s been very helpful to me and a good friend and you’re one to talk! Because I know you were friends with her brother when you were younger,” she fired back and gave him a dirty look to follow up her dropping that particular bombshell.

“I was, and that’s why I’m telling you to be careful,” he countered calmly, and again they were locked in another stand-off. Too different but still too much the same in their stubbornness.

“Why? What happened between you and Lex Luthor back in Smallville? Clark, I need to know,” she demanded since she was tired of both men beating around the bush when it came to their friendship or whatever it was that the two men shared. 

It was also important for her to know about since she suspected it might have something to do with Lena’s fear of them having a relationship. Though holding hands today had felt amazing and not to mention that she had a solid yes on a future date with the green-eyed genius. Yet she still knew her brilliant but complex girl had deep-rooted fears about her mother. 

“How do you know about Smallville?” he asked her pointedly in return and again she cursed the fact she lived with two investigative reporters which made it even more amazing that she’d been able to keep her vigilantism in the Slums a secret.

“Visited his place with Lena the other day and saw a picture of you two, but I gotta say it surprised me a little bit to find out that you were on the cheer squad,” she teased him to mask her white lie while unable to resist taking a small dig at him. Though it wasn’t that big of a surprise since he’d always gone above and beyond to stay out of the physical competition when he was younger.

“Hey! They needed someone to be at the bottom of the pyramid,” he chuckled trying to brush the conversation away by taking a handful of chips and stuffing them into his mouth.

“Clark, Kal… I know their mother can be controlling and manipulative and I’ve seen it in Lena, was… was that what happened between you and Lex?” she asked even though she didn’t think they had been that close and she watched her cousin swallow the mouthful of chips before speaking again.

“Lex spent his senior year of high school in Smallville where we met, but he was also there to learn on the job at the factory the Luthor’s had on the outskirts of town back in the day,” he started telling his story about how his friendship with Lex Luthor had started.

“He, well, he was everything I wished I could be back then, outgoing, the star quarterback, openly brilliant and we became friends because he saw something in me,” her cousin went on and that made her smile because that was the same way she felt about Lena in a way aside from the kissy types of feelings she also had for the pale girl.

“You two weren’t like me and Lena, though were you?” she asked even though she wasn’t sure what she and the pale girl were, but it was definitely way-way beyond friendship at this point. After all, friends didn’t ask each other out, well maybe they did, but once asked you couldn’t really call each other just friends anymore. 

“No,” he laughed but it wasn’t a nervous laugh. “But we were good friends, the best of friends,” he explained wistfully and looked out the window at something very far away.

“What happened after high school? Why did you drift apart?” she pressed him and uncurled from her corner of the couch to sit next to her cousin, but she suspected the answer before Clark even said anything.

“I wanted to see the world before starting college and so I started planning for my little walkabout that I went on. I’ve told you about those trips, right?” he asked to which she nodded since it was something she wished she could do too, just go and travel the world and learn about it like Clark had done when he was her age.

“You asked him to come with you, didn’t you?” she asked softly because that’s what she would have asked and put her arm around her cousin. After all, he was her younger cousin, technically, as she sometimes teased him, and she sensed that he’d not told many people about this before.

“I did, but his mother gave him a choice, well it was more of an ultimatum, since being seen gallivanting around the world with some farm boy wouldn’t be a good look for the heir to the Luthor fortune,” he sighed while shaking his head at the memory and she could almost see resentment in her cousin which she didn’t think she’d ever detected in him before.

“Is that why you’re always telling me to be careful with Lena?” she quizzed him further and lifted her glasses into her short hair to look at him without the lenses in the way. 

“Pretty much yes, Lex told me he couldn’t come with me, that his mother would ruin my prospects if he did and that he needed to be there for Lena,” he explained and it all started to make sense to her now. Though poor Lex had tried his best to be there for Lena it was clear that Lillian Luthor’s hold was strong over both her children.

“Explains the weird quasi-friendship you guys have I guess… what happened then and for the record, I’m not afraid of Lillian Luthor,” she declared firmly having already made up her mind that she was going to be there for Lena Luthor no matter what!

“I believe you,” he laughed that deep and heroic laugh of his and put his arm around her shoulder in a rare display of cousin to cousin affection. 

“What happened next? You went on your walkabout, grew a beard, and learned about the world while he turned into a suit-wearing CEO?” she asked with a grin having seen some old pictures of a grizzled Clark from back in the day in Ma Kent’s family albums. 

“There isn’t much more to say, we parted as friends, kept in touch on and off throughout the years before we both ended up here in Metropolis and when you asked about a job I gave him a call and he said of course anything for my oldest friend,” he finished his tale and she could see a shadow pass over his chiseled features.

“Kal, what’s wrong?” she asked, and he shook his head like he was trying to shake that moment of darkness away.

“I think... I think he’s jealous of Superman and I do worry about him sometimes, he’s got ambitions that might one day get the better of him,” he admitted and she gave a frown in response since she knew that LexCorp, or at least its predecessor of LuthorCorp, had been into some shady things with the whole Compound-K stuff among other things back in the day, but Lena had been adamant about her brother being a force for change and for good in the company since taking over.

“Should we be worried?” she asked her cousin hoping that the answer would be no, she liked Lex, he’d patched her up and helped her with the internship and was by all accounts a serviceable big brother to Lena.

“No… maybe, I don’t know, sometimes people are hard to figure out, but that’s why we have to be careful about who we bring into our lives,” he admitted and that made her heart sink especially since she’d come out to Lena as a Kryptonian already, but Kal had never done the same with Lex and from the sounds of it had been worried to do so.

“Well I do believe that there is good in everyone, well except for Lillian Luthor,” she declared cheerfully and reached for the remote to change the topic away from their messy relationships with the Luthors.

“That is true,” he agreed heartily with her as she flicked through the menu on the TV looking for a good movie to watch if only to forget about the doubts she now had about Lena’s brother.

“Die Hard or Die Hard 2?” she asked with a smirk and flicked her glasses down from her hair and onto her nose again.

“Why not both?” he asked back with a raised eyebrow while looking at her over the rim of his glasses.

“And that’s how I know we’re related,” she laughed while pressing start on the movie as she settled back on the couch for the promised movie night. 

Admittedly a night in, was a nice change of pace from fighting gang members in the Slums or flirting with Officer Sawyer even though she’d now have to stop that since she was going to be dating Lena. Rao! She was going to date Lena Luthor! The thought hit her like a thunderbolt and somehow Clark seemed to pick up on it. 

“Tell me one thing though?” he asked politely as the movie’s intro rolled on the screen and she gave him a suspicious look but nodded for him to go on.

“You like her? Lena, I mean? As in like-like?” he asked as if he was interviewing her for an article and that made her smile because he was trying not to be awkward about asking it this time. Though hearing Clark Kent, Superman himself use the words like-like almost made her burst out laughing before she answered.

“I do,” she replied without hesitation, she like-liked Lena Luthor and if their hand-holding at lunch was any indication then the pale-skinned girl also like-liked her in return despite their various ups and downs lately. That and the fact she’d said yes to going out someday and wanted to meet up later tonight. 

“Good, that’s good,” he chuckled at her earnest expression and pulled the bowl of chips onto the couch between them for convenience's sake while at least for now dropping the whole you’ve got to be careful spiel. 

“I asked her out today,” she mumbled needing to tell someone since Alex hadn’t been answering her texts or phone calls earlier, so she was dying to tell someone, anyone, even Clark. 

“And what did she say? Do I need to have the shovel talk with her because Lois’s dad gave me the worst one of those and I’ve been dying to be the one who gives it,” he asked with his blue and friendly eyes out in full force and for his cluelessness and faults he really was the best cousin.

“Yes, she said yes and no, she’s an honorable girl… I think,” she laughed and swatted him with a nearby throw pillow as he held his hands up in defense while laughing. 

After the movies ended she was back in her bedroom where she lay in bed wide awake, listening for the sounds of Clark falling asleep down the hall. When she heard her cousin and Lois’ steady breathing she changed into the black sports bra and shorts Lena had given her before pulling on workout sweats for her short jump to the nearby rooftop where she’d stashed her Nightwing suit the night before. Mid-jump with the wind hitting her face she found herself making a mental note to ask Lena about potential secret lairs because changing on a rooftop underneath a water tower wasn’t the most ideal solution, but she wouldn’t risk hiding the suit in her room.

Once fully dressed in the midnight black and dark blue suit she stood on the edge of the rooftop where she looked out over the water towards the Slums before putting on the blue mask. Then she activated the glide wings under her arms and jumped towards the converted warehouse that housed Lena’s apartment. Even though she was needed in the Slums, first she had a promise to keep to the pale girl and she wasn’t about to go back on her word. Not to Lena. Nope definitely not to **her** Lena.

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere on the outskirts of Metropolis, a woman wearing heavy boots stepped out of a Greyhound Bus with a yawn and a stretch, then Alex Danvers zipped up her leather jacket, hoisted her duffel bag onto her shoulder before looking around for the nearby motel. Operation surprise visit of little sister Kara was a go and it was overdue especially since the tabloid news story about her kid sister being seen out and about with Lena Luthor had been squashed by her unit at the DEO. Not what she'd expected her first mission to be after being pulled out of the training program early, but the higher-ups were adamant about her visiting her sister and making sure that she wasn't about to do anything unauthorized though she was mostly happy for the leave and the chance to see her sister again.

In the back of a limo driving through the night, a tumbler of whiskey was being hurled at a screen showing pictures taken with a telescopic lens of Lena Luthor holding hands with one Kara Danvers followed by muttering to the effect of this wouldn't do, no this wouldn't do at all as a blurry image of Nightwing from a security camera came up on the screen along with details on estimated height, weight, power levels, and possible locations. It was clear that the two blondes were causing the occupant of the limo no small matter of distress this evening as it pulled up outside of a fenced-off building in the Slums.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry this took so long but what can I say aside from the fact that the world is weird right now which among other things kinda made me lose my writing mojo a bit after that last chapter but I hope you all liked this one. 
> 
> Next up on the Internship?
> 
> Lena cosplays as Lois Lane as she waits on a rooftop for Nightwing to come and visit as promised. 
> 
> Danvers finds out that dating is a bit more complex than casual hook-ups. 
> 
> The girls must figure out how to distract Alex and quick! But what or who would provide a good distraction for a highly trained military operative on leave? 
> 
> Lex Luthor, friend, foe, rogaine user?


	16. Rooftop Rendezvouses and Ravishing Rapscallions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danvers goes on a date with Lena as she tries to find the right way to utter the dreaded g-word. 
> 
> Alex Danvers blows into town and straight into a certain brunette that provides a needed distraction for our heroes.
> 
> Danvers has to pull out all her earnestness when dealing with Andrea Rojas.

Landing on the fire escape outside Lena’s warehouse apartment Danvers was greeted by a piece of LexCorp stationary taped to the window that simply read: _Meet me on the rooftop -L_ which she pulled off with a grin and then proceeded to jump up onto the roof of the building all the while debating if she should do a superhero-landing to try and impress the pale-skinned girl. Impressing Lena Luthor was, after all, fun, and ever since meeting the girl she’d had this overwhelming urge to do just that at every opportunity which really should have been a hint about how much she like-liked the amazing and beautiful green-eyed girl. Now knowing that she did indeed very much like-like the complex genius gave her a great sense of confidence that she was doing the right thing. 

Yet, as she cleared the edge of the rooftop she faltered a bit at the sight before her eyes but managed nonetheless to execute her heroic landing with a grin as Lena turned around with a smirk wearing a white dress and matching sneakers while she had her raven-black hair down around her shoulders and her luminous eyes were dancing in the light of about a dozen lanterns scattered around the roof.

“Good evening,” she formally greeted the girl standing before her while somehow managing to keep her voice steady as she deactivated the white lenses in her mask by tapping the side of it. It was then that she noticed that tonight Lena looked like a bright and glowing angel. An angel who was looking her up and down appreciatively and it hit her that Lee had actually been doing that for a long time. 

You’ve been an idiot haven’t you Zor-El? That annoying voice in the back of her head chimed in sarcastically but not without a nugget of truthfulness to it. 

“And hello to you too, show-off, took you long enough,” Lena teased her and stepped aside to reveal a picnic blanket, twinkling tealights in cups for light and mood were strewn around it and what looked like cushions from Lena’s couch spread out on the blanket along with what looked like a truly mammoth pile of takeout boxes.

“Lois stayed out later than expected, then Clark just kept talking and talking and is that pizza… and burgers...” she trailed off as she walked up to the green-eyed girl while pulling off her mask since, really, there was no need for any kinds of masks around Lena. 

“Full disclosure, I tried to cook for us... you might have smelled the results with that sensitive nose of yours but with that experiment a failure, you get the finest late-night take-out delivery that Metropolis has to offer,” Lena declared and there was in fact a veritable feast of take-out ranging from pizzas to burgers and fries with sodas, and to Chinese food waiting for them.

“Now that you mentioned it…” she admitted with her nose twitching, but she’d been too focused on seeing the pale-skinned girl again to go sniffing around when she’d landed and now she felt overdressed in her battle-suit with Lena looking radiant in the simple white dress she wore that exposed her shoulders, arms and a modest amount of tempting cleavage. 

“But I’m glad you came,” Lena finally shyly murmured after a moment of silence passed between them as soft hands found their way onto her hips, and it made her gulp so hard that it was visible because this was new, this was intimate, and this made thinking straight freaking hard. 

“I wasn’t going to stand you up seeing as I was the one to ask you out, though I didn’t bring any flowers, I’ll bring some flowers next time though, promise and maybe some chocolates too I know you like those,” she couldn’t stop the words tumbling out of her mouth as Lena laughed, reached up, cupped her cheek and kissed the other one softly.

“Breath Farmgirl, breathe, and don’t worry I don’t need flowers,” Lena assured her and took her by the hand to lead her to the makeshift picnic area as she tried not to smile like a total goofball with her cheek tingling from the kiss. 

“But you do deserve flowers,” she protested right away and that earned her the sight of a full-on smile blossoming across Lena’s beautiful face. It was a smile that hit her like a freight train and stopped her dead in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?” Lena asked while still holding onto her gauntleted hand and tugging her towards the pillows strewn around the red and white checkered blanket.

“You’re really pretty, I’ve told you that before, right?” she blurted out and her annoying and sometimes complete lack of smoothness was in full force tonight it would seem.

“You may have, but keep talking if you want… not that I could stop you,” the mischievous genius giggled and that didn’t do her already overtaxed brain bits any favors as she sat down on the blanket unable to take her eyes off Lena’s face. 

“Well, you are really pretty that is, beautiful in fact and smart too and I want to ask you something,” she couldn’t stop talking no matter how hard she tried even as she watched Lena open up the take-out boxes for them while she pulled off her suit’s heavy-duty gauntlets. 

“Hopefully it’s something fun,” the pale girl laughed and she hadn’t seen her friend, girlfriend if she had her way, this at ease since Smallville and it gave her soul wings seeing Lena like this and damn it why couldn’t she think straight. 

“It’s kinda fun and I know it’s way too soon but look I don’t know how things work in Metropolis so here goes,” she said after another uncontrollable outpouring of jumbled words and then took a deep breath before asking her question. 

“Lee, would you like to go steady with me?” she asked with all the earnestness she could muster, and even though this was only their first official date she felt like they’d been dancing around this for far too long. Also, she didn’t want a repeat of the one night stand she’d had with Maggie or for things to become friends with benefits like it had developed with Eve. 

“You mean like we’d be exclusive?” Lena asked with a raised eyebrow, but her voice was soft and low, and she nodded mutely while accepting her paper plate that was piled high with all the junk food a girl from Smallville could dream of.

“Yeah, I know we’ve not done… those things yet… but I’ve… I’ve been doing some stupid stuff lately and… well I’ll stop it of course, but like it feels right to be like that with you, and… ugh… why are words so hard sometimes! This would be much easier in Kryptonia,” she growled in frustration and instead stuffed food into her mouth to shut herself up as Lena sat down next to her, very closely, while munching on a spring roll. 

“It’s alright… I’ve been doing some stupid stuff too,” Lena admitted which made her feel jealous, really jealous, but it wasn’t like she’d been keeping it in her pants either and she could see a flash of pain in Lena’s emerald eyes. Whatever the stupid stuff had been it didn’t seem to have been pleasant for the petite girl by her side. 

“Want to do stupid stuff with me… exclusively then?” she asked opting once again for being earnest since that always seemed to have worked well with Lena in the past.

“I… I would like that very much,” Lena replied with only a moment’s hesitation and she couldn’t help but to yet again grin like a total idiot.

“It’s official then, now if we were back home in Midvale or Smallville I’d give you my letterman jacket or something,” she laughed and then gulped again when Lena nestled against her as once again all she could think was: Girl soft!

“That’s very sweet of you, but I don’t need a jacket,” the warm and soft girl snuggling up against her mumbled in-between bites of her food as they sat in silence for a little while just eating with the stars twinkling above them as the light from the lanterns flickered across their faces.

“I… saw a therapist today,” Lena finally said in a small but not shaking voice to which her first reaction was to reach out and put her arm around the girl’s slender shoulders.

“Was… was it difficult?” she asked and squeezed her girl’s slender shoulder, because darn it Lena was hers now, while looking into those shimmering brilliant eyes looking for any hint of pain or discomfort.

“It was… a revelation,” her steady, another word she now loved in relation to Lena, admitted with a smile while she did the only sensible thing and leaned down on the pillows while pulling the girl’s head onto the chest of her suit where it felt like it belonged.

“Lee... if I ever caused you any hardships… with you having to keep my secrets or from you helping me then I…” she started apologizing while rubbing her back but was cut off by a pale finger pressing firmly on her lips and blazing emerald eyes fixing her in place.

“My choice,” Lena declared using only two words to make it clear that this was something that the sometimes bossy girl both wanted and wouldn’t hear any arguments against. 

“Your choice,” she nodded back as her eyes became fixed on Lena’s lips, soft and tempting with no lipstick on them tonight and all of a sudden the inside of her battle-suit felt very warm, and this is the part of the evening where you kiss the girl Danvers, the annoying voice in the back of her head reminded her dryly. 

Without uttering a single word she gently took hold of Lena’s wrist and pulled the perfectly manicured finger away from her lips and then with purpose she reached up and cupped the back of the pale girl’s head whose eyes had never left hers. Something unspoken passed between them as she asked for permission with only her eyes and with her fingers caressing the back of Lena’s neck the beautiful and petite girl nodded before she began slowly pulling those soft-looking lips down against hers, and then she kissed Lena Luthor. This time there was no turned cheek and no awkwardness. Instead, she felt those same pale fingers that could build marvels of engineering like her suit raking through her short blonde hair as the kiss deepened and she could feel the pleasant weight of Lena's petite body as she was being straddled while she pushed her tongue against those soft lips begging for entry.

Lena couldn’t think, instead, she threw herself into the kiss her blonde Farmgirl had initiated, the strong body beneath her was both firm and very warm and she parted her lips to allow entry for Kara’s probing tongue as she raked her fingers through that short and thick hair she’d helped cut back at the Kent Farm. Moving to straddle the blonde, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be swept away by the feelings raging through her soul, but then a moan came unbidden from her throat when she felt a hand strong enough to crush steel come to rest on her hip before caressing it. Hip, not butt, she thought, and it reminded her how Danvers was always polite, never took any liberties and that made her melt against the strong body underneath her, and then she was being pulled in closer as the kiss deepened and all thought fled from her mind. 

“Oh my, here is to more stupid stuff,” she muttered when she was able to finally pull away from the tall and earnest blonde with her lips tingling and her hands came to rest on Danvers’ strong chest where the diamond shape of the empty shield was with the blonde smiling up at her like a goof.

“Yeah… as far as stupid stuff goes that was pretty nice, right?” the blonde Farmgirl asked hopefully with a grin, but then she could see Danvers’ deep blue eyes dart to one side for a second.

“It was, but what is it?” she asked and allowed herself to run her fingers down the blonde’s arms, feeling how the midnight-black fabric of the battle-suit she’d crafted formed against rippling muscles stronger than any steel.

“I heard something, trouble I think, don’t hear any sirens either,” the heroic blonde who she was now undeniably dating said with her ears almost twitching, and how could she not date this amazing creature, her mother’s wrath be damned.

“Go, I’ll put this away,” she urged the blonde while a small selfish part of her wanted to ask her to stay, maybe even suggest that they peel that form-fitting black suit off fully and get comfortable. 

“You sure? I mean, I hear police sirens now and I don’t want to be impolite but…” the earnest blonde replied and she shut her up by cupping her face with both hands and slowly kissing her into silence before pulling away.

“I’m sure, go, let me know if there is anything I can help with from here,” she urged before getting up and offering the impossibly handsome blonde her hand with a smile. 

“You’re the best,” Danvers declared with that beaming smile of hers out in full force and she felt her heart skip a beat as she helped the tall girl up from the pillows they’d been lounging on.

“No, that title goes to you, now go, be a hero,” she urged the blonde who was taking out her mask to put it back on, but she stopped her with a gentle touch. 

“Here let me help you with that, Zor-El,” she teased the statuesque blonde and a deep-throated chuckle escaped from between thoroughly kissed and glistening lips which made her grin as she had to get up onto her toes to affix the mask to the blonde’s regal face.

“Why thank you… Miss Luthor,” the blonde replied while allowing her voice to drop into that deep timbre that she used whenever she was being heroic or simply comfortable. 

“Go, before I do something even more stupid,” she laughed and kissed the silly girl on the chin which made her nod before handing her the discarded gauntlets. 

“You might want to stand back,” Danvers warned her while pulling her gauntlets back on with a twist to lock them in and taking only the tiniest step back she watched as the blonde crouched down and after flashing her a grin launched herself towards the sky above with the gust of wind blowing back her hair and dress.

Rushing to the edge of the roof she watched as the silhouette of her Farmgirl, her hero, glided in a graceful arch across the water into the Slums and she heard a faint thud from the distance marking the blonde’s landing before she took off again with another faint popping sound as air rushed in to fill the void that her supersonic jumps left behind. Fuck, her girlfriend was all kinds of awesome, and for the first time, she didn’t feel afraid of what might come.

* * *

The next day Danvers had to stifle a yawn as she brought up Andrea’s coffee with a protein bar sticking out of her back pocket since she’d found this awesome flavor that was coconut and almond and it did keep her pretty full during the morning. Earlier while almost skipping on her way into the LexCorp Tower she’d said hello to Miss Teschmacher who had right away spotted something different about her and wished her good luck with a certain green-eyed girl while saying she’d always be available if she needed a friend or if she wanted to simply talk. 

The yawning, however, stemmed partly from the fact that the night in the Slums had been a running battle where Intergang had been out in force and there seemed to have been an urgency to their actions, but luckily she’d been able to put a stop to most of their rampage and where she’d been too late she’d been able to put out the fires. Still, the escalation in the Slums made it all the more urgent that she'd somehow get her hands on the data on Compound-K locked away in the LexCorp databases and any information about who hid it away.

Squaring her shoulders before stepping into Andrea’s glass-walled office that overlooked the city with the golden globe atop the Daily Planet building in the distance she put down the coffee and cleared her throat. The dark-green-eyed chief operating officer of LexCorp looked up at her and again she got that feeling that she was being measured and studied for something. 

Though she did understand that her outfit today might warrant attention. Having felt supremely confident following going steady with Lena she was dressed in tight black jeans, and a white pressed shirt with the sleeves rolled up to show off her arms and around her neck, she wore the loosely-tied red tie she kept ‘borrowing’ from Clark and one she should really get her own off all while wearing her best sneakers. 

“Long night, Danvers?” the woman asked and took a slow sip from her coffee as she kept tapping on her keyboard with her free hand.

“Yes ma’am,” she admitted since it made no sense to lie about that part of her evening and, in truth, it had been a very hectic night, but luckily, she hadn’t run into the Kryptonite dagger again which she assumed was because the gang’s leadership was either busy or in hiding. Then she had to fight against another yawn which was a result of having laid in bed until dawn thinking about Lena. 

“Pray tell, what does a girl your age get up to on a Thursday night that has her yawning to such a degree?” Andrea asked with perfectly shaped eyebrows raised and she took this as a chance to gauge the woman’s character a bit further. 

“I help out at a Diner in the Slums called Pat’s Diner, he’s a family friend but he’s getting a bit old,” she replied and it was in part true since she always stopped by Pat’s where she’d indulge in some pancakes and then sweep the floors. Though last night here had been no sign of Maggie there which was probably for the best. 

“The Slums, that’s an interesting place to visit, got any other family there?” the chief operating officer commented before taking another sip from her coffee.

“Kinda, and it’s been having some troubles lately, gangs and such, but I can take care of myself pretty well,” she assured the woman and without thinking made a muscle with her right arm that almost tore the rolled-up sleeve of the shirt. Real smooth moves there, Danvers, she chastised herself silently while putting her arm down, 

“I’m sure you’re quite capable, Danvers,” the powerful executive laughed, but those dark almost jade green eyes did linger on her arms and she did notice, and she decided to put a stop to that right here and now. Not that the attention was unpleasant, but rather that she was with Lena now and that changed things.

“I hung out with my girlfriend too, well she just became my girlfriend, you know in fact I’m not entirely sure she’s my girlfriend yet,” she said but right away fell into her own babbling trap and right away there was a shift in Andrea’s demeanor.

“Sounds like a hectic night,” the chief operating officer laughed and that put her at ease somewhat since she’d never been in the position to deflect someone’s attention like that before.

“Mostly in the Slums, there are these gangs there and they’re up to no good and it’s rough for the people living there,” she went on in her mission to see what kind of a person Andrea Rojas was underneath the chief operating officer mask.

“You’re a very earnest person, has anyone ever told you that, Danvers?” the woman asked her, and she couldn’t resist smiling since it was pretty much one of Lena’s nicknames for her at this point.

“A few people have, but if we don’t call out for justice and try to make a better world then who will,” she declared getting a bit lost in her words and she was still a bit fired up, if yawny, from the night before.

“Justice, a better world, are you sure you’re on the right internship track, Danvers,” Andrea chuckled but she only shrugged and pressed on too fired up to stop now,

“It’s all about mindset, about will and doing the right thing in every waking moment you have, doesn’t matter if you’re an intern, a diner owner or a chief operating officer, something is going on in there that ties back to…” she said allowing the fire in her soul to seep into her voice and realized she’d spoken too much as she stopped before saying the last word of that sentence. 

“…here,” Andrea finished the sentence for her and then leaned back in her chair as she tried her darndest not to nod like a hypnotized chicken. 

“Lock the door,” the chief operating officer ordered her in a commanding voice that made her gulp, but she obeyed and turned around to lock the glass door before the glass-walls became opaque no doubt from the click she heard which had been Andrea pressing a button on her desk.

“Did I say something wrong, ma’am?” she asked trying to remain calm and not to fidget with her hands as she was nailed by a piercing look that made her weak at the knees and unconsciously she licked her lips. 

“I looked into your employee file where I discovered that you’re cousin to Clark Kent of the Daily Planet and then that one of your emergency contacts is Lois Lane of the same publication,” the chief operating officer stated in a matter of fact tone and she steeled herself to play along.

“I don’t see what’s wrong with that, ma’am,” she protested and was again fixed in place by those smokey eyes drilling straight through her skull.

“Add to that the fact that you ask to be transferred here on short notice, and now you’re giving me this spiel about the poor people of the Slums and…” the chief operating officer went on but she couldn’t stop herself from interrupting.

“It isn’t a spiel, ma’am, they’re good people being terrorized by no fault of their own!” she burst out and she wasn’t sure how it happened but she ended up with both fists pressed down on the woman’s white desk to underline her point.

“You are fiery too, I see, such a shame, very well why don’t you tell me why you’re really here and we’ll go from there?” Andrea asked her and again the woman’s husky voice compelled her to speak.

Taking a deep breath she opted to go for the earnest way, be truthful since she wasn’t one to sneak around, that was more Alex’s game anyway, and telling the truth wouldn’t hurt at worst it would get her kicked back to data entry or so she hoped. With Andrea waiting patiently, but intently, for an answer, she laid out her case to the woman while leaving out any mention of vigilantism, superheroics, or Lena’s involvement. 

“I found some files while working in data entry which indicate that someone inside LexCorp might be fueling drugs to the gangs operating in the slums,” she explained and the chief operating officer’s eyes darkened and then narrowed.

“Go on…” Andrea ordered for her to keep speaking and again she felt herself compelled to speak as she stood up a bit taller. If she wasn’t with Lena now, who knows, she might have wanted to explore this effect the powerful businesswoman had on her further. 

“Compound-K, it’s a drug they’re taking, you see, I found the name in some old patents and research documents before I went home for the weekend the other day and when I returned the box was gone and the scanned files were locked behind high-level access,” she went on and hoped that she hadn’t misread the woman’s character while also getting ready for a fight

“And why are you so knowledgeable about what’s going on in the Suicide Slums?” Andrea asked pointedly and now she had to lie just a little bit if only to protect her secret identity and Lena’s involvement with it and not to mention Pat and Maggie. 

“Me and some friends, we’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on there, ma’am. Hoping to get enough information to go public with it because nobody else will, the police don’t come into the Slums’ without massive force and it’s the right thing to do,” she replied and resisted the urge to pound her fist into the palm of her hand to make her point.

“If you want to fire me or send me back down to data entry, I totally understand, but I’m asking for your help. I know LexCorp couldn’t be involved in anything like this, but one bad apple can rot the entire bunch,” she kept talking until the chief operating officer held up her hand for her to stop, and right away she did. 

“It’s my job to make sure that this company runs smoothly and efficiently and not to mention within the law, and what you’ve told me today puts all three of those things at risk,” Andrea calmly replied but she could see the anger behind the woman’s smoldering green eyes and somehow she knew she’d made the right call.

“So… you’ll help me?” she asked hopefully while maintaining her rigid posture at the woman’s desk with her arms behind her back almost standing at attention under the executive’s burning gaze. 

“Yes. Now, I don’t know what you’re up to, not fully and I don’t want to, but I’ll help you,” the chief operating officer said and rose up from her chair with a grace she hoped one day she could possess. 

“But not here, come to my apartment tonight, and I’ll have the files printed out for you and this conversation never happened,” the chief operating officer told her firmly and she mutely nodded with her hands grasped behind her back.

“Yes ma’am, forgetting about it as we speak, ma’am,” she said and that earned her a chuckle from the husky-voiced chief operating officer.

“Shame about that girlfriend of yours,” Andrea muttered with a smile tucking at the corners of her lisp which made her give the woman a confused look which earned a laugh.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” she asked innocently, and even though she had some inkling of the implications in the chief operating officer’s words she felt like there were layers to them that she was missing. Chalk one up to still being a farm girl in the big city she guessed.

“Nothing, alright enough talk, the less I know, the better and it’s almost lunchtime,” Andrea said while shaking her head at what she suspected was her farm girl naiveté.

“Yes ma’am, can I bring you anything?” she asked but the woman merely shook her head and waved her off as she busiest herself at her keyboard.

Trying hard not to bolt from the chief operating officer’s office she ended up jogging to the nearest elevator and texting Lena asking if she wanted to meet for lunch on short notice since she knew her girlfriend, Rao, she liked that word, was in the building, the building which Lena’s domineering mother worked in too. Yet, so far there had been no signs of Lillian Luthor sticking her witchy nose in their new relationship, but she knew she would have to be on the lookout, and crap, how was she to explain to her new girlfriend that she needed to go to a strange woman's apartment tonight to get some documents and then the elevator doors opened and her problems tripled in one fell swoop. 

“Surprise!” Alex Danvers, big sister, maybe a spy in training and the last person she needed around Metropolis right then declared while flashing some serious jazz hands and how had she snuck up on her like that?!

“Alex!” she blurted out and then she could see Lena and Sam rounding the corner and all of a sudden Andrea Rojas wanting her to visit her apartment tonight became the least of her worries.

“Farmgirl!” Lena called out and before she could say or do anything, she was being kissed on the cheek lovingly by her girlfriend in full view of both Sam and her sister.

“Farmgirl?” Alex asked with a raised eyebrow before being distracted by Sam wearing a white blouse and a pencil skirt who was smirking at her and Lena’s public display of affection. 

“And hello there,” her sister, the tomcat of the family and wearing all black, greeted Sam who gave the tall, short-haired redhead an unimpressed look, but Alex had ways and was about to speak before she decided to put a stop to whatever her sister was thinking or about to say. 

“No!” she blurted out at her sister who only grinned back at her and it didn’t help that Lena, wearing her office best, a red blouse and black skirt with low heels, was holding onto her arm like, which was quickly becoming a habit for the petite genius. 

“Why don’t you breathe a little and then introduce us, darling?” the pale-skinned girl asked in a calming voice that was nonetheless laced with mirth at the situation and she took a calming breath.

“Fine! Fine… Sam, Lena, this is Alex, my big sister, and who has a habit of showing up unannounced,” she grumbled to which Alex simply smirked with her hands on her hips while nodding toward Sam and then Lena, but it was obvious where her sister’s attention lay.

“Alex, this is Lena, my girlfriend and…” she trailed off when she found three pairs of eyes fixed on her along with Lena’s hands squeezing her arm.

“…and this is Sam, she’s Lena’s friend and mine so you behave,” she ordered her sister after pushing forward despite the looks she was getting in the aftermath of her declaration of girlfriendship with Lena Luthor.

“I always behave,” Alex declared and gave a look of mock shock which caused her to laugh and proceed to hug her sister tightly.

“I missed you, but a warning would have been nice,” she muttered as she squeezed her big sister tightly and even though her timing sucked, she was genuinely glad for her sister being here. 

“Missed you too, but where is the fun in that, and love the hair, by the way, you keep stealing my style,” her sister mumbled back as they pulled apart and Alex ran gentle fingers through her now short hair.

“Lena did it back in Smallville,” she replied with her goofy smile creeping onto her lips and she looked back at her girlfriend, there was that word again, who was observing everything going on while Sam looked worryingly interested in Alex.

“We’re about to go for lunch, would you like to join us?” Lena asked Alex with a polite smile and the grin on her sister’s face made her shake her head.

“Wouldn’t dream of saying no,” Alex declared and winked at Sam who shook her head while crossing her arms across her chest. 

“Knock it out,” she grumpily whispered to her sister who tried to look totally innocent, which she wasn’t buying for a second until Lena taking her hand made her stop worrying in a heartbeat.

“Come on, you can tell us all about what brings you here,” Lena declared but she could see the wheels turning behind those luminous green eyes highlighted by dark eyeshadow today. There was no doubt about it, Lena was firmly on her side and that felt amazing too.

Lunch at a nearby diner flew by, mostly taken up by Alex interrogating Lena about her intentions mixed with flirting outrageously with Sam. Danvers was proud that her big sister had been out of the closet since she was thirteen after a summer spent in Smallville which had been in the tall redhead’s words eye-opening and she’d never looked back, but she was being very quiet about why she was here having made some vague claims about being on leave for a few days from whatever classified secret organization she was training with.

“I’ve got to head back,” Sam declared wiping the corners of her mouth with a napkin, and right away Alex was on her feet.

“Can I walk you back?” her sister asked with a smile and in response, she kicked her in the shins under the table, but Alex didn’t flinch.

“It’s not a long walk, but sure,” the brunette laughed and whispered something to Lena before standing up while eyeing Alex who really did look dashing in the black almost uniform-like outfit she had on. 

“Oh wait, Alex, where are you staying? You can come and stay with Clark and Lois if you want,” she asked her sister as Alex placed a few bills on the table for her part of the lunch with a grin.

“I’ve got a place, don’t worry,” she assured her, but a place to her sister usually meant a motel somewhere slightly seedy and it made her even more suspicious about just why Alex was here at this point in time. 

“Text me where, I’ll come by later,” she said firmly to which Alex gave her a puzzled look because she’d accidentally dropped the timbre of her voice.

“I will, are you ready, Miss Arias?” her sister assured her with a smile and then turned her full attention to Sam who nodded with a sly and amused look.

“Ready, and please, it’s Sam,” the brunette dressed for business laughed and she wanted to growl at Alex because Sam was a mom and had Ruby who was adorable, but she didn’t say anything and instead saved it for later when she’d give her sister a proper warning, but she did watch the pair leave the diner with a wary eye.

“Sam can take care of herself you know,” Lena chuckled once the pair were out of earshot and she flashed her girlfriend a grumpy look.

“Alex isn’t subtle though,” she protested and resisted the urge to use her telescopic vision and her enhanced hearing to spy on her sister no doubt putting all the best Danvers-moves on Sam.

“And maybe Sam wants something not so subtle, ever think about that?” her girl-genius girlfriend, she was still loving that word, countered with her eyes twinkling mischievously which caused all kinds of unwanted images and ideas to blossom to life in her head.

“Eww… eww… ewwwww!” she whined and bashed the palms of her hands against her forehead to try to make the thoughts stop.

“But don’t worry, she doesn't rush into things, but if she texts me telling me that she needs a babysitter for Ruby we’ll know for sure,” Lena went on clearly enjoying teasing her and she grabbed a handful of fries and chewed them loudly while glaring at the slightly annoying teasing girl.

“Not helping,” she mumbled and then swallowed before leaning in closer to whisper to Lena about what was really bugging her regarding Alex showing up out of the blue like this.

“Alex might be here because of what we’ve been doing,” she quietly said into Lena's ear while resisting the urge to kiss a diamond-studded earlobe.

“Technically we haven’t done much,” her impish girlfriend countered with her voice low, but the implications clear in the tone of it.

“Not that… though I wouldn’t mind some… I mean the Nightwing stuff,” she explained herself as some more thoughts about what she wanted to do with and to Lena floated to the front of her mind

“You think she’s here to snoop around?” Lena asked with her eyes narrowing slightly clearly not liking the idea of that and she could see those now-familiar wheels in the girl's brain turning. 

“Maybe, she’s been training with some organization that’s all very hush-hush, and then she shows up here right after I start doing stuff,” she reasoned and felt Lena’s hand on her knee slowly rubbing it to calm her down.

“Well, Sam might be a nice distraction then and I’ve been upgraded to girlfriend, uh?” Lena murmured while smoothly changing the subject which caused a hot blush to creep into her cheeks.

“I wasn’t overstepping or anything, was I?” she asked and felt the hand on her knee squeeze it tightly. Rao why did simple touches scramble her brains even after going steady with Lena, she wondered pleasantly to herself. Focus Zor-El, Alex is up to something! 

“No, you weren’t… I’m happy to be your girlfriend,” the green-eyed girl replied softly before gently turning her face and placing a very public kiss on her lips that made her tingle all over.

“There is another thing I need to tell you about… a sneaky stuff thing,” she whispered once the all too brief kiss was over, and she was rewarded by Lena’s raised eyebrow.

“I found some information that might lead us to whoever is behind the Intergang attacks in the Slums,” she went on in a quiet voice and tried to find the best way to explain what she had to do to get them.

“Why do I suspect that it has something to do with LexCorp or my stupid family or both,” Lena replied seemingly way ahead of her in that regard already.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with Lex or the company right now, but I found some old files that I can’t access, and well I need to get them from Andrea Rojas tonight,” she mumbled her explanation as concerned eyes narrowed and she could feel the worry coming off Lena in waves.

“And I don’t like that look…” she gulped and instantly Lena’s face softened, and she felt delicate porcelain hands cupping her cheeks.

“I trust you, but promise me that you’ll be careful with Andrea,” Lena declared despite her obvious worry and then gave her a slow and lingering kiss on the lips which made her smile as she nodded into it. 

“I will be careful, I always am," she promised her girlfriend who smiled at her when they pulled apart again after some very pleasant swapping of spit.

"But why didn't you come to me though? I could have hacked into the system or just stolen Lex's password," Lena asked not sounding mad more curious and probing about her reasons for going for this path.

"I don't want to get you into trouble with your family and you've already done so much for me already," she admitted and then looked around the diner before whispering. "We can't talk here, but I'll tell you everything tonight, deal?" she asked and stuck out her hand which Lena looked at with a raised eyebrow but eventually took.

“That's sweet of you darling, but promise me that you’ll be quick, in and out, and then come to me and we’ll go over what you’ve found together, alright?” Lena asked with concern clear in her voice and she gave a firm nod before deciding to be a bit sneaky and steal another kiss or three.

"See that wasn't such a hard problem to fix or talk about now was it?" her girlfriend asked once they pulled apart from yet another kiss and Rao those were getting addictive but very fun though. 

"No it wasn't, but I wish I could say the same about our Alex problem though! Hey, maybe we should warn Sam or tell Alex about Ruby? That should throw her off the scent,” she chuckled at a lack of a better comeback, plus she was still worried about Alex’s intentions toward Sam which she really liked already and that earned her a slap on the arm.

"You're such a goofball, but at least you're my goofball now, but let Sam have her fun please," Lena laughed as she tried to look totally innocent of that charge before she took a page out of Alex's playbook and offered to escort her girlfriend back to the LexCorp Tower. Both of them thinking that it felt good to be able to let their guards down at long last and having someone around they could each trust implicitly.

* * *

Alex Danvers was having a bit of a hard time focusing on her mission, so far, her sister seemed to be doing alright, nothing out of the ordinary though the new girlfriend was a bit of a shock. What was a pleasant surprise was the brunette walking next to her, Sam Arias, who despite seeming more amused by her advances than anything else was elegant, beautiful, poised, and funny which made this mission all the more fun to be on and maybe the trip wouldn’t be a total loss after all.

“Army or Navy?” Sam asked her and the cover story for her training kicked in right away though she wasn’t a fan of lying.

“Air force, actually,” she replied smoothly and flashed her cockiest grin at the woman who was striding along at impressive speed in her heels.

“You are tall enough,” the brunette chuckled as she pulled out her phone when it vibrated in her purse and she could see the background picture of Sam and a cute kid. 

“Cute kid, is she your niece?” she asked since that had in the past been a good opener to get to know women, but the answer wasn’t what she was expecting and maybe her training hadn’t been as comprehensive as she thought.

“Daughter,” Sam replied without looking up from her texting or slowing down her walking and she almost tripped over her own feet upon hearing that. 

“Not what you expected, eh hotshot?” Sam asked her with a sideways look and a playful grin, and she tried not to show that she was flustered because flustering and babbling was Kara’s bag, not hers.

“A little surprising… what’s her name?” she asked while reminding herself that she wasn’t going to be in town for that long and this wasn’t a major hurdle, new, but not a major hurdle.

“Ruby and you haven’t run away yet, that’s good,” Sam laughed while seemingly sensing her discomfort it would seem, and damn it this girl was smart on top of being drop-dead gorgeous. 

“Guessing you aren’t free tomorrow night then?” she pushed on and that earned her a suspicious look but then the woman’s eyes turned playful as they came to a stop outside the towering LexCorp building. 

“You really are here on leave I can tell,” the brunette laughed and playing along with her cover, she gave a salute, and that caused Sam to shake her head but pull a business card out of the back of her phone case.

“Yes ma’am,” she replied and accepted the offered business card with a smile before turning it over in her hands to read the number and email printed on it. Progress being made was always a good thing.

“Well, if you plan to stick around a while give me a call and we can see what happens,” Sam said with a hint of teasing to her voice and a smile tugging at the corners of her pink lips and she resisted flashing the brunette a smirk of her own.

“Oh don’t worry, I will,” she assured the leggy brunette and this was going to be fun she decided as she pocketed the embossed business card.

“You’re cute, a bit cocky, but cute.... I like that,” the brunette assured her before turning on her heel and with a slight wiggle to her hips vanished into the building.

“Cute… I’m not cute,” she muttered to herself once Sam was out of earshot as she pulled out her phone to put the woman’s number into it but the message she saw made her frown.

 _Agent in training Danvers report in at 15:00_ the message read, and she frowned as she really had nothing to report aside from the fact that Sam Arias had great legs and looked to be a lot of fun. 

At the Daily Planet, Lois Lane was reading over police reports, sparse as they were, from the Suicide Slums, there had been a lot of action going on in the Slums it would seem, and now reports of a masked vigilante were trickling in. With the file were blurry stills taken from old and outdated security cameras of a figure decked out in a black and blue looking suit, like something out of Gotham and she chewed on her pencil. With her reporter instincts tingling she pulled on her purple coat and grabbed her phone out of the charger as she booked a car to take her across town. This merited some investigation since another hero in town meant another exclusive interview that could potentially bring her Pulitzer win count up two to one against Clark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated: Added a deleted scene in a separate story called oh so creativity The Internship: The Deleted Scenes. If you're rereading and hankering for more check it out.
> 
> And I hope you all enjoyed this birthday gift from me to you all since I am posting this on my birthday and really pushed to get it up today.
> 
> Next up on The Internship!
> 
> Danvers faces temptation and learns a lesson or two about industrial espionage from Andrea Rojas!
> 
> Lena does some digging of her own into what or who is behind the escalating attacks on the Slums!
> 
> Agent in training Danvers struggles to stay focused on her mission as she learns more about Sam Arias!
> 
> Lois Lane is on the case! Suck it Kent!
> 
> Things are all coming to a head in the next chapter of The Internship.
> 
> p.s. I'm back to work full time again after the plague now in case I hadn't mentioned that and then I'll be on vacation for Thanksgiving. I'm also having to travel between countries in a pandemic which is a hoot! So I thank you for your patience and continued support!


	17. Serviceable Siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danvers has a chat with Alex about certain dos and don'ts when it comes to Sam as she prepares to face Andrea Rojas...
> 
> Lena tries to figure things out with a little bit of help from big brother Lex...
> 
> Danvers enters the lioness's den as she attempts to get the files on Compound-K from Miss Rojas and what price might she have to pay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!

Danvers stalked around the dark alley trying not to yell into her beat-up phone because on the other end was Alex, who right now was known as the bane of her entire freaking existence. With her big sister in town things were even more complicated than before and it didn’t help matters that her sweet but definitely ulterior motives harboring sister wanted to meet up, but she knew that most of all Alex wanted the inside track with Sam. Yep, her life was becoming harder and harder to manage not to mention keep the many facades of it seperated. The LexCorp intern, the Alien Town vigilante, the dutifully sister and cousin and now Lena Luthor's girlfriend. Though with Lena she could be all those things.

Now, granted she didn’t know the accountant and mom of one adorable munchkin very well, she’d only met her twice, but she liked Sam and she adored Ruby, thus despite her love for her big sister she felt very protective of the mother and daughter pair. Especially because Alex had a bad habit of love’em and leave’em and she didn’t want to set either Sam or Ruby up for heartbreak once her sister would inevitably skip town for whatever super-secret reason came up next.

“Come on, just put in a good word for me with that goth goddess you’re dating, and the rest will take care of itself,” Alex begged her while no doubt lounging in some motel room.

“No way! Sam’s not that kind of girl,” she protested and gave a nearby dumpster a kick with the toe of her sneaker that sent it crashing against the wall a bit too roughly as she hurriedly covered the phone to muffle the noise. 

“Oh, then what kind of girl is she?” her sister asked while clearly having no intention of letting up one bit and she had to admit that when Alex set her mind to something she did so with a laser-like focus.

“She’s a mom, Alex, she has… responsibilities… and stuff!” she argued weakly, and even though Lena had said that Sam could take care of herself she didn’t want Alex to get in over her head either. 

Still, Sam was a smart cookie and so was Ruby, and even though the idea of the tables being turned on her philandering sister did amuse her, she wasn't going to give up easily. 

“I’m sure she has all kinds of… stuff, but that’s what babysitters are for, right?” her older, but perhaps not so wiser, sister reasoned, and she could hear that cocky grin in the voice over the phone.

“Alex… don’t do this, not unless you plan on sticking around this time,” she softly pleaded with her sister both for Sam’s sake and in a tiny selfish way for her own sake too. 

In truth, a part of her terribly missed having Alex around for the past couple of years, but ever since her sister had started her super-secret training with a totally not clandestine organization, she’d seen less and less of Alex, and even though it had allowed them both to spread their wings, well, she missed her big sister.

“Hey, I’m almost done with my training, promise,” her sister muttered apologetically over the phone and even though they didn’t argue often, they had argued when Alex had gone away to train for whatever it was she couldn’t tell anybody about.

“Not what I meant, okay I lied there, it is what I meant but please don’t do that thing you do with Sam, she deserves better,” she said and looked up at the starry sky above the alley she was in where the bright light of Metropolis drowned out all but the brightest stars. Sometimes she really wanted to just be back in Kansas with Lena on the porch. 

“Kara, what’s wrong? Your hero complex is showing something fierce with this one,” Alex asked, and she could hear that old worry in her sister’s voice which was usually followed by a reminder to lay low, not draw attention to herself and all that jazz.

“Just… look I really lo- like Lena and Sam is like her only friend, and Ruby is this smart and an amazing kid, so please, please, be careful with her, be respectful and don’t get in over your head and then run away,” she blurted out while almost stumbling over her words as they came tumbling out of her mouth in her frustration about not just this conversation but life in general.

“Okay, okay if it means that much to you, I’ll take it slow, but are you sure things are alright because you sound a bit overwhelmed tonight, want to come by the motel and hang?” her annoyingly perceptive big sister asked as she picked up on her flustered state even over the phone.

“No, no I’m fine, and I can’t because… because I’m delivering something to my boss that she forgot at the office,” she white-lied not so smoothly as she stepped out of the alley and looked up at the towering apartment building that Andrea Rojas called home with no small amount of apprehension. 

“They’re not running you ragged over there at LexCorp are they?” Alex asked with a laugh while she had to fight back a chuckle because she had a pretty good idea what Andrea Rojas wanted from her but wouldn't’ be getting tonight. Not with her and Lena being official now, that was for damn sure, but it was fun to daydream a little about what ifs and could have beens.

“No, not at all, and you know me, got that endless stamina,” she couldn’t resist joking about her powers with her sister partly because Alex wasn’t a fan of that kind of talk and partly because she needed to talk herself up a little bit before facing Miss Rojas on her home-turf.

“Is that what you told that goth girl to get her going?” Alex asked with a laugh and she grumbled angrily at being teased, also Lena was so much more than a pretty pale face, and her big sister needed to be told that in no uncertain terms.

“Her name is Lena, not goth girl, better get that right before I bring her home for Thanksgiving,” she said a bit too firmly and without thinking about it at all. The laugh that followed from Alex made her facepalm and shake her head with a stifled groan. Rao, she was bad at this stuff, like so very bad at it.

“Thanksgiving, uh? Guess she’s the one then,” her sister, never one to let her off the hook, drawled and she pinched the bridge of her nose as hard as she could.

“At least I’m thinking about bringing someone home this year,” she countered her sister’s teasing, it was an underhanded tactic, but she really liked Lena and wanted out of this conversation five minutes ago.

“Ouch, alright I’ll lay off your goth girl… sorry lovely girlfriend,” Alex apologized which made her smile because hearing her big sister say the g-word somehow made it more official.

“Thanks, it means a lot and she’s amazing I promise, but I got to go, or my boss will be on my butt,” she said and zipped up her jacket with purpose. 

“Fine, fine, go be a corporate ladder climber or something, but remember only good and glowing words about me to Lena and Sam,” her sister laughed, and she could do nothing but shake her head again since Alex was anything if not persistent when she took a fancy to a girl.

“Fine, but remember what I said, she’s different, be nice,” she told her sister very firmly while letting her voice drop a few octaves to become her Nightwing voice, and yet a part of her knew there was no stopping her sister, but at least she could put the fear of Zor-El into her if only a tiny bit.

“Oh, you are scary deep voice serious I see, fine I’ll be a gentlewoman through and through, promise,” Alex chuckled, and she knew that was as good as she was going to get from her sister on the matter.

“I’ll hold you to that and so will Lena,” she reminded her older, though perhaps not more mature sister as the call ended with a laugh from Alex and then steeled herself for her encounter with Andrea Rojas. 

Now there was a woman that truly terrified her and no amount of Kryptonian bluster and confidence could help her there, no this called for a more subtle approach, but she knew she was about as subtle as an asteroid heading for a planet full of cute and unsuspecting dinosaurs.

Checking the background on her phone she smiled at the picture of herself and Lena that had been taken at the farm. Thinking to herself that once this was over maybe they could go back there and just relax. But now it was time to find the final puzzle piece to what was going on in the Slums and all she had to do was resist whatever Miss Rojas had in mind for their meeting at the executive’s apartment. No big deal, she’d faced worse, or at least that was what she told herself as she entered the building.

* * *

Lena was pacing around her warehouse-loft apartment, barefoot while wearing an oversized t-shirt and comfortable jeans with a pencil keeping her hair up in a messy bun, avoiding looking out the large windows overlooking the city’s skyline, and it wasn’t at all because she worried about the fact that Danvers was at Andrea Rojas’s apartment right now. 

Nope she didn’t care one bit that **HER** Farmgirl was with that maneater tonight! Granted, the tall, noble, and strong blonde had always been nothing but honorable and she trusted her completely. 

Which was a new sensation, but she did not trust Andrea Rojas further than Kara could throw the LexCorp executive and she hovered her finger over Lex’s number in her phone’s address book with his grinning face looking back up at her, almost daring her to do it. Calling big brother Lex for help was, after all, always her last resort, and dependable as he was, she knew that he relished in that knowledge. 

Still, what her Farmgirl had told her about what was going on in the Suicide Slums worried her, in fact, it terrified her, because she remembered the ravings of her father as a little girl about the filthy aliens pouring into the city. That meant that if LexCorp was in any way involved with what Danvers was combating in the Slums it meant that Lex had gone back on his word. But he was her big brother, stupid, serviceable big brother Lex who was equal measure goofy and genius, he wouldn’t do anything like that, would he?

It also brought the fact, unbitten to her mind, that it had been days since she’d decided to be seen publicly with Kara, not hiding that they were together and there had been no word from her mother on the matter. No velvet-gloved threats or outright orders to stop seeing the towering blonde. That worried her also, but being with Kara Danvers, Zor-El, Nightwing, whatever name the blue-eyed wonder went by made her feel like she was invincible. 

Still, invincible, or not she needed answers and she wasn’t sure she had the patience to wait for her Farmgirl to return from the lioness’s den with the information they needed to plug in the gaps. 

Walking back to her whiteboard with her green eyes darting between the notes she’d made based on what information she had at hand it became clear that they really needed those gaps filled. Once Danvers had brought up the potential link between the gang violence in the Slums and her family’s company her mind had gone into overdrive. Partly because she wanted it not to be true, but also because the Luthor breeding was hard to override and it was shouting at her to protect the family at all costs.

“Stupid, they’re all stupid,” she muttered and threw a marker at the whiteboard with an unsatisfying thud when the answer she sought didn’t reveal itself and chewing on the fingernail of her thumb, she looked at the phone again.

“Here goes nothing, fuck,” she whispered her curses before she pressed Lex’s number and as always, he picked up after three rings and sounded immediately worried which based on their history wasn’t necessarily the wrong reaction.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in his rich voice while she could hear him typing on a keyboard at the same time as always being the consummate multitasker and it was one of the things they had in common.

“Hello to you too and nothing’s wrong,” she chuckled and finally allowed herself a moment to breathe as she sat down at her workbench to tinker with her latest gadget. Ever since Danvers came into her life she’d been tinkering more and she loved it.

“Oh, usually when you call it’s either something like injured and heroic country girls needing patching up or when you crashed the Bugatti that time in Gotham,” Lex chuckled, and he was never going to let her live those two things down but both times he’d come through. 

“Hey! I wasn’t going to lose that race to a filthy Wayne spawn,” she protested her youthful antics, though they’d been not so long ago, and the Bugatti had been totaled but it did make Lex laugh fondly on the other end of the line.

“Never said you weren’t doing it for a good cause, but how is that Kent girl you’ve been hanging out with, is she keeping out of trouble? Are you?” he asked once his laughter died down and in a split-second, he was deadly serious, but she knew that on some level he cared. 

“She’s fine, we’re both fine, and you should know we’re dating now before it hits the gossip rags,” she replied without worrying about sugarcoating it while sounding happy and proud at the same time and there was a pause from her big brother.

“Well at least it’s official and seeing that I have not been paid a visit by mother I’m guessing she doesn’t know yet?” he quizzed her and again she chewed on the fingernail of her thumb at the mention of her mother.

“It’s none of Lillian’s concern,” she snorted defensively and managed to stop chewing on her fingernail like a nervous teenager. Reminding herself that it was her life, her choice, and most importantly that Danvers wasn’t afraid of Lillian Luthor and neither was she anymore.

“Fair enough, your life, your choice,” he conceded echoing her thoughts and she could picture him rubbing his bald head and shaking it at the same time but with those early similar green eyes of his that she recognized from the mirror full of barely concealed concern. 

“But I doubt you’re calling me only to tell me the happy news though maybe wait a few years before proposing to this one… so what is really on your mind Lee?” he asked after a brief pause and she knew she had to just come out and ask it.

“LexCorp isn’t doing anything like what dad was doing before you took over?” she asked straight out, and she heard the constant typing on the other end of the phone stop.

“What brings this about? But no, we stopped all of his questionable research when I took over, you know that because you were there,” he replied in a measured tone of voice, but she could hear the simmering anger behind it.

“Kara… I mean Danvers, thinks she’s found something that traces back to us and... Lex, I need to know that we’re not doing anything dodgy involving the Suicide Slums?” she demanded while glancing out the window across the water and then took a deep breath before adding. “Please…”

“Lena, we’re to my knowledge not doing anything like what our father was working on, we’re a tech company now, with oversight and…” he started what was a well-practiced speech, but she cut him off.

“...and yet we have that secret research and development facility on the 13th floor, we’re not as squeaky clean as we pretend to be, it goes beyond mere security solutions like you said at the last board meeting,” she countered, and she could hear him sigh on the other end of the phone. Granted she’d used said facility to create Kara’s Nightwing-suit, but still, it wasn’t exactly only benign tech they were developing at LexCorp.

“Security solutions are a part of the LexCorp portfolio, and it’s nice that you pay attention in board meetings, but I promise you we’re not doing anything as crass and basic as using gangs to lower property values, it was what our grandfather and father did and we’re better than that now,” he said throwing back to the fact that their family fortune had been started in the late 1920s through dubious mean during the Prohibition. 

“What did you say?” she asked slowly as something dawned on her and the pieces started falling in place in her head as she jumped down off the stool by her workbench and made a beeline for the whiteboard again. 

“That you pay attention in board meetings?” he asked now sounding surprised by her sudden shift in inquiry, but she could hear him tapping away at his keyboard again.

“No, the other thing, about Grandpa Alex,” she demanded as she picked up the marker from the floor again and started scribbling on the whiteboard as she needed to message Danvers right now.

“Using gangs to lower property values, it’s not an unknown tactic even today and…” he started in his lecturing voice that he’d sometimes used when explaining things to her when she was growing up and as fun as getting history lessons from big brother Lex would be, she didn’t have time for one right now.

“Thanks, look I got to go surf a brainwave, but I’ll be in touch real soon, okay?” she said now speaking faster as she drew a map of the Slums from memory on the whiteboard and started putting down little red crosses at every spot her heroic girlfriend had told her about a fight or an encounter with Intergang.

“Are you sure everything is alright? Want me to come over and I’ll bring my thinking shorts?” he asked now in full-on big brother mode and it did make her smile as she stepped back from the whiteboard chewing on the marker thoughtfully. Though the idea of thinking shorts made her grin.

“No, I’ve got this, thanks Lex,” she tried to calm her brother’s worries, and this was all still a theory, after all, if she was going to bring in Lex fully into what they were doing she needed facts which hopefully Danvers was getting for them from that Rojas woman. The thought caused her to almost growl under her breath. 

“Not sure what it is you’ve gotten yourself into, but if you’re going to war with someone, I would appreciate a heads up,” he chuckled, and she shook her head as she put him on speaker while she messaged Danvers.

 _I think I’ve figured it out, once you get what you need from Andrea come back here..._ she wrote and then added quickly, _be careful, love you…_ and then hit send before she could think too much about what she’d just confessed via text.

“I will, look don’t worry I’m just being one of those social justice warriors that mom hates,” she jokingly lied to deflect his worry, but as usual Lex had again come through for her without even knowing it.

“Alright, but remember I’m always a phone call away,” he quipped and then turned serious again. “But be careful, I’ve only got one sister and I like keeping her around,” he added, and she reminded herself to do something nice for her big brother soon, maybe set him up with someone cute. Maybe that honey-blonde receptionist that Danvers kept flirting with and thus killing two birds with one stone.

“I will be careful, catch you later Lex,” she assured him as she started pacing again this time hoping her Farmgirl would get back to her soon and resisting the urge to hack into the security system at Rojas’ apartment building to check in on her girlfriend. Trust goes both ways, she reminded herself as she returned to her gadget on her workbench as she used the smell that arose from her soldering the contacts to distract herself from worrying further about her Farmgirl.

* * *

Why are you even here Danvers? She thought to herself, but she couldn’t decide on a good answer to the question that kept popping up in her head. It didn’t help matters that her heart had been hammering in her chest since the uniformed doorman at the lobby had called the elevator for her and now, she was standing in front of Miss Rojas’ door looking down at herself nervously and fidgeting with her clothes. 

Zipping up the black leather jacket, borrowed from Clark’s closet of all places, to hide the tight white t-shirt she wore, she then zipped it back down and realized that she’d come dressed for a fight in a white t-shirt, jeans, a leather jacket, and sneakers, but she also realized she was perhaps dressing to make a particular kind of impression on Miss Rojas. Since if the executive wanted a butch or masculine girl, she could dress that part no problem. It was all part of being sneaky, she reasoned with herself. 

Still, again, she wasn’t stupid or a dummy, she knew what the older woman wanted from the way she looked at her, but the way Miss Rojas looked at her. It wasn’t like Eve or Maggie or even Lena, no around the tall dark-green-eyed woman she got the distinct feeling that she wasn’t in control and it both scared the heck out of her while also giving her a pleasant tingle in the back of her head. Yet, that wasn’t something she could explore in the here and now because she was with Lena now and she had to make sure that it was known to all. Especially to Andrea Rojas. 

That decided, it didn’t mean, however, that she should look like a slob or a wallflower. Making sure that the white muscle-shirt was tucked into her jeans, the tight ones that Lena had insisted she buy, she fixed her belt again, ran her hands through her short hair, and made sure she had her glasses on before knocking on the door as firmly as she could.

The door opened and all of a sudden, her mouth went dry, since the way Miss Rojas was dressed left no doubt as to what the price, she might have had to pay for the files would be. The executive still wore the red fitted pants of her business suit and a partly unbuttoned white blouse with her hair down while she had on heels that made the already tall woman stand taller than she was. Yep, this was a power play on the executive’s part, and she knew it. 

“Miss Rojas, good evening, arriving as ordered,” she said while unconsciously sounding a bit like Eve had whenever the receptionist had arrived for one of their little sessions. Though those were in the past and all she wanted was to get this over and done with and get back to Lena, her Lena. The thought of those green-eyes full of love steeled her resolve again. 

“Danvers, don’t be so formal, call me Andrea for now,” the executive laughed, and her dark-green eyes were almost like Lena’s though not as luminous, also there was a predatory look to them as well and to how the executive moved. Knock it off Zor-El!

“Very well, Andrea,” she nodded and flashed the woman a smile that always seemed to work on the other girls in her life. Going from sleeping around to dating was proving a bit of a tricky adjustment she had to admit, but it was a pleasant one. 

“You are excessively polite Danvers, come in please, do you want something to drink?” the woman in red offered her and she stepped into the apartment feeling both dread and a guilty rush of excitement at the same time.

“Sparkling water if you have it, I don’t really drink,” she admitted and looked around the apartment, it was almost as nice as Lex Luthor’s penthouse though with a distinctly feminine touch to it.

“Cute place,” she commented while taking off her jacket and casually throwing it over a nearby chair, then she unconsciously flexed her arms feeling very exposed in the tight fitted t-shirt, but also feeling strong. 

“Thank you and I didn’t take you for the type,” Andrea commented with her eyes openly lingering on her frame and poured her the requested sparkling water from an expensive-looking bottle before pouring herself a glass of red wine.

“To a fruitful partnership?” the executive declared, and she could toast to that though she wondered just what kind of partnership the woman had in mind.

“Agreed, but may I get straight to the point?” she asked, trying to sound firm while gathering her courage, which was tricky after taking a sip of the sparkling water that tickled her tongue.

“Of course, take charge all you want as you do with our receptionists,” Andrea teased her, but she didn’t take the bait though it was a tempting bait indeed. 

“What do you want from me?” she asked and downed the contents of her glass before putting it down with a bit of force as she tried to project her Kryptonian strength and towered over the executive with her hands on her hips.

“And I don’t do that anymore, I’ve got a girlfriend now,” she added wanting to get it out there before the woman got any more weird ideas about her relationship status.

“Oh my, so forceful, I can see why they fall all over themselves for you… and to answer your question, all I want to do is help you realize your potential and through naked self-interest avoid a scandal at LexCorp,” the woman laughed at her little display of bravado and cockiness that usually didn’t have this effect on women, in fact, instead it usually made them all shy and demure.

“What do you mean? My potential?” she asked while trying not to sound confused as this was making her head hurt a little bit. It had been a long day already, and with Alex in town, going public with Lena, she simply wanted the data and then she could get back to work on saving the Slums from Intergang and whoever was trying to drive out the people there. 

“I’ve seen you, watched you, you’re truly impressive, always in charge and always… shall we say on top,” the executive teased her and despite her best efforts she did blush as the woman’s lips left a lipstick stain on the glass she was sipping from and there was something about her smile and those dark-green eyes.

“Thank you… but that still doesn’t answer my question,” she muttered and pulled herself up to her full height and squared her shoulders. “So, I’ll ask again, what do you want?” she demanded pushing back against the woman’s teasing while thinking about Lena waiting for her back at the pale girl’s apartment. 

“You’re a noble one, very well,” Andrea replied while shaking her head before sitting down on an expansive white couch and crossing her long legs. “Won’t you sit?” the executive asked pointedly while gesturing to a spot on the couch with one elegant hand while sipping at her glass.

“I’ll stand, look I can’t offer you much, only that helping me will be doing the right thing and that lives are in danger if I don’t stop what’s going on in the Slums and as you said help avoid a scandal at LexCorp,” she started arguing her case with her hands behind her back and her chest pushed out as she stood at attention, but was cut off when Andrea held up her hand and right away she found herself compelled to stop. Darn it, she was weak sometimes. 

“Here,” the executive said calmly, seeming unmoved by her pleas before she produced a manilla envelope from a brown Louis Vuitton bag by the side of the couch, and then she held it out while almost daring her with her eyes to come and take it.

“That’s it, just giving it to me. Don’t want me on my knees begging, telling you that this is for the good of the company and the city?” she asked while sounding suspicious because this woman had no reason to help her out of the kindness of her own heart. In fact, Miss Rojas, Andrea, didn’t strike her as the type who did things for no reason. Also hold the Rao up! Down on my knees, what are you saying Zor-El, she chastised herself. 

“That’s not a bad idea, but no, that’s it, and before you ask all the questions, I’m sure you have swirling around in your head, let’s just say that I’ve got a feeling that one day soon you’re going to be someone important in this city and I’d like to have you on my side,” Andrea declared and again giving her no choice as it became very clear that she was not in control here, not one bit and before Lena she might have liked it but now she had to be polite and stay true.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m just trying to help out my friends,” she replied knowing that even though she was a vigilante now it didn’t mean she should get sloppy about who she told about her Kryptonian heritage or late-night activities. 

“As I said, you’re very noble, but what’s in that envelope is going to earn you some powerful enemies in Metropolis,” Andrea warned her and took another sip from her glass of wine while giving her a measured dark-eyed look while patiently holding out the envelope. 

“And you still want to be my friend?” she asked dubiously and took a step forward while reaching out to take the envelope from Miss Rojas’ manicured hand as she tried not to shiver under the executive’s intense gaze which gave her this urge to… kneel. Stupid horny Zor-El apparently hadn’t gotten the memo yet about their relationship status it would seem, but the thought of Lena’s smiling face put those thoughts to rest in quick fashion. 

“An ally,” the executive corrected her to which she nodded like a bobblehead doll as Andrea held onto her end of the manila envelope while she tried not to appear too eager to get her hands on the files that had eluded her for so long. 

“That… that could work,” she conceded diplomatically which made the woman give her a genuine smile. After all, having someone with Andrea’s connections could prove beneficial in the long run, or that’s what both her mother and aunt Astra back on Krypton would have said. 

“I knew we’d get along, now tell me who is this girlfriend of yours that has you on your best behavior?” Andrea asked before letting go of the envelope and leaning back on the couch lounging lazily.

“She’s great, really great,” she blurted out as the woman nodded for her to go on and seemed amused at her earnest answer even though she’d sidestepped that her girlfriend was in fact Lena Luthor. 

“You can tell her she’s a fortunate girl then, not many women like you around Metropolis I can tell you that much,” Andrea chuckled and for some reason she found herself sitting down next to the woman while clutching the envelope in her hands. Maybe she just needed to talk to a neutral party.

“Told my sister about her earlier and… can… can I ask you something?” she glanced sideways at the calmly lounging woman next to her who only nodded for her to go on. Miss Rojas was anything if not patient. 

“How do you do it? Balance your life? Because no offense I can see that you’re one person at LexCorp but now... here at your beautiful home you’re quite different, and I’m sorry if I’m being rude,” she tried to find the right words to best explain her worries. 

“It’s not easy, but you got to create distance between your professional and private lives,” Andrea explained to her sounding patient and without a hint of the teasing that had gone before.

“Easier said than done,” she muttered as she wondered how Clark did this before she rose to her feet again. “Thank you… for doing the right thing,” she said as she felt the phone in her pocket vibrate no doubt, Lena, telling her to get her butt back home already.

“Danvers, if you ever need help then my door is always open, but be careful alright? What I saw in those files will make some very powerful people very angry if it was ever to become public,” Andrea assured her before rising to her feet and offering her a hand to shake.

“I’ll remember that and thank you again, this has been an enlightening evening,” she replied while picking her words carefully letting her smile emerge which made Andrea give a laugh as she firmly squeezed the woman’s hand.

“Oh, my you are strong,” the executive commented with a titillating laugh with a raised eyebrow and she flashed the woman a cocky grin in response. 

“Don’t you forget it,” she teased a little bit, just a tiny bit, as she allowed herself to be escorted to the door again with the files under her arm as she grabbed her jacket off the chair that she’d flung it over on arrival.

“I won’t, trust me,” Andrea assured her and stroked her arm appreciatively with warm fingertips before she pulled on her jacket again, but that was much as she would allow. It wasn't an unpleasant touch, but only Lena was allowed to touch her like that, nobody else. 

They said their quick goodbyes and once she was back in the elevator, she let out an explosive breath and fished her phone out of her jeans to reply back to Lena's text and at the same time tried to calm her pounding heart while also feeling like she needed a long shower as she got herself under some semblance of control. Dealing with Andrea Rojas had been a conflicting experience and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not, but darn it, darn it all to hell it had gotten her what she needed.

 _Mission successful returning to base,_ she typed back before realizing the words reading _love you_ were staring her right in the face, but once she noticed her eyes went wide and her entire face lit up. Lena loved her? Lena loved her! Oh boy, oh Rao this was too much, she let herself sink down to the floor of the elevator as she turned the manila envelope over in her hands, and then with her curiosity winning out, she pulled the first printed page out of the envelope and scanned it with her blue eyes darting from left to right as they grew wider and wider with each passing line she read.

“Fuck!” was the first word that escaped from her lips once she put the page down and then she heard something, very faint, it was Pat, shouting for her to come right away and then nothing. A quick text to Lena about a change of plans and to meet her at Pat's Diner, then she punched the button for the rooftop of the building. It was time to take care of things in the Slums once and for all and now that she had the missing piece to the puzzle she knew just who to punch and punch hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! RW here, remember me? I wasn't even sure I'd get a chapter out before the end of the year but I was so full of Christmas Spirit that I managed it! Thanks for sticking with me this year, it's been a weird one, hasn't it?
> 
> Now, if you want a different steamier take on Danvers' meeting with Andrea at her apartment or just a bit more extra reading for the holidays' check out my deleted scenes for The Internship, creatively named The Internship: The Deleted Scenes, which should be on my profile and set up as part two of this series. It's an early draft of this chapter that ended up going in the garbage but before you scoff I've got two words for you: light bondage ;) 
> 
> Next up on The Internship!
> 
> Danvers rushes to Pat's aid!
> 
> Lena rushes to Danvers' aid!
> 
> Whose side is Lex on?
> 
> Alex and Lois make trouble!
> 
> What was in those files?
> 
> It's all coming to a head as we're entering the end game!
> 
> Merry Christmas and to all a good night!


End file.
